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What is the best way to backup content from Dropbox to an external HD?

I’d like to backup the entire contents of my large Dropbox account to an external hard drive. What is the best way to do this?

Considerations:

I have a complex web of folders and files, some of which are online-only and not. I’d like to keep the current setting of which are online-only and which are not. Syncing down in batches and copy-pasting onto the external is therefore not ideal.
Backup methods like Time Machine don’t do much good with stub files like Dropbox’s online-only files.
The size of my Dropbox contents exceeds the capacity of my local hard drive, so I can’t use it as a “middle-man”.
There are apparently download limits on Dropbox web, so I don’t think I can just download it all directly to an external hard drive.
One idea would be to make a new user on my Mac, sign into Dropbox, set the folder to the external HD, and sync everything down, but this seems risky and janky…

Any ideas appreciated!

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Hannah

Hey @rymanbugs, thanks for posting to the Dropbox Community today.

At the moment, there's no direct way to back up the contents of your Dropbox to your external drive.

With the new Dropbox for macOS app, the Dropbox folder is saved to ~/Library/CloudStorage and cannot be moved somewhere else.

If you don't have the space to make all your files available offline, to copy them to your external drive, a workaround would be to download your files in batches from the website and then move them there.

You can also use selective sync, to choose which folders to sync, make them available offline and then copy them to your external drive.

I hope this helps, but let me know if you have any questions.

rymanbugs

Hi Hannah, thank you for your quick reply!

I can't use the selective sync method for the reasons (1 & 3) stated in the original post.

I can probably download in batches, but some folders are heavier than others, and I foresee a headache coming as to keeping track of what's been downloaded, reorganizing in the final place in the external hard drive, etc.

This issue would be solved by 1 of the following potential features:

Keep the download limit off Dropbox.com. However, allow a mass-download; simply breakup the files programmatically on Dropbox’s end into separate zip file of max size determined by you. Or download in split RAR files, max size determined by you.
A feature of Dropbox Backup, but allowing the reverse: instead of backup from external, allowing backing up to external from Dropbox.

Would DB be willing to consider one of these features @Hannah ?

I love Dropbox, but we all know it's a good idea to have backups in multiple places. With Selective Sync, and running my work/life out of my Dropbox folder, it makes it almost impossible to routinely back up to some other place (preferably physical).

Nancy

Hi from me as well, @rymanbugs, and sorry for jumping in.

I’ve sent your feedback on this to our team, so that they can see your suggestions and take them into account in the future.

If you need something else, I’ll be around the Community!

rymanbugs

Thanks, Nancy!

rferretti

Hi @rymanbugs,

have you been able to find a solution for this? I have a similar situation and would like to create an additional backup on an external HD. I find it strange that Dropbox does not offer a solution.

rymanbugs

Hi @rferretti

No solution yet. I also find it strange, considering a big part of DB’s value to customers lies in backups.

MarkyMark1

I am also looking to backup from my Dropbox account straight to an external hard drive.

Johngcolejr

I have the same issue. Any resolutions yet?

MarkyMark1

no - still waiting. may have to try another service.

michelle32

Any luck yet? I am also wanting to back up all my files directly onto an external hard drive. My computer doesn't have space to download everything to copy and paste over

Mark

@michelle32 wrote:
Any luck yet? I am also wanting to back up all my files directly onto an external hard drive. My computer doesn't have space to download everything to copy and paste over

Dropbox does not have this functionality. Sorry.

julianskipworth

I know this topic has been partially covered before but it still astounds me that with a Dropbox Business account there is no way of exporting and backing up all of our data directly to an external SSD? Syncing locally first is not an option due to the amount of data, and downloading direct to the drive is also not possible due to the 250 GB limit on downloads. Seems crazy! Has anyone found a workaround? For a "business" product it's just not good enough...

I was using CloudAlly for a bit as our main form of backup but they've jacked up their prices not for Dropbox.

Thanks,
J

Hannah

Hey @julianskipworth, thanks for reaching out to our Community.

Do you have a Windows or a Mac computer? If it's a Mac, are you using File Provider?

I've also moved your post to a thread with info relevant to your query, so you can take a look as well.

Let me know if you have any questions!

julianskipworth

Hi Hannah - Windows please

Megan

Hey @julianskipworth, since we don't currently have this exact feature you're asking for, I'd suggest Dropbox Backup.

It's work taking a closer look into this, and seeing if it'd suit your needs. Otherwise the alternative would be to indeed sync your content locally, and then move them to your SSD.

In any case, I'll forward your feedback to the appropriate areas so we can continue to improve.

Thank you!

IT Operations 202

I have been a business Dropbox user for 6+ years. I find it absolutely absurd that DropBox cannot support a simple task such as being able to easily copy (we are talking about cutting and pasting!) MY Dropbox files from MY Dropbox online account or from my computer. That ludicrous to ask a user to copy their files in batches just to accomplish a simple task like this. I feel like DropBox is holding MY FILES hostage.

sl14

I am trying to do this exact thing, and your suggestions are excellent. Did you ever find a good method of backing up dropbox onto an external drive?

Thank you

rymanbugs

No there doesn’t seem to have been any satisfactory feature implemented to support this yet

((

ssalenger

I am also looking for a solution to physically back up my entire Dropbox without being able to use my Mac as a middle-man. I guess I will try to do batches but an automated option seems like functionality that should exist for paying users.

Rich

Use something like Cyberduck/Mountain Duck or CloudMounter to mount Dropbox as a drive, then copy from there direct to your external.

Bourne Group

THANK YOU!!!!

I used the Cloud Mounter!

smekuria

I am also very surprised to find that I can't get my files out of Dropbox to travel with them on my backup drive. It is like they are in cloud prison and I have to work hard to get them out. There has to be a simpler way to access my own files for whose rent I pay a good amount of money to Dropbox!! Why should backup be a one way only street?

Hans Fidom

Hi Smekuria (and everyone else),

What I do is this: in Safari's preferences (general tab) I relocate the download folder temporarily to my external HD, then go to my online Dropbox, select the folder I like to be on my external HD and click in the ... menu related to that folder the option 'Download'.

Works for me: I now have a backup of my Dropbox folder on my external HD. It takes a bit of time, but it's easy and reliable.

Hans

joelfriedman

Hi all, just wanted an up-to-date summary on the topic. I'm on Mac 15.3.1 using DB. I share my files between a Mac Studio and MacBook Pro. I have 2+TB of files I want to backup to an external HD for safety. Thank you.

I can't use TimeMachine to do this...
I would have to download ALL my DB files to my internal boot drive and then manually copy them over to an external drive, which seems a bit insane
I could use a 3rd party something like Cloud Mounter. Is there a consensus? How does it work?

rymanbugs

I am currently in the midst of using a solution that seems to be working really well, so I thought I'd share here. It will require the use of open-source tool Maestral, and it may take multiple days to finish syncing, depending on the size of your Dropbox contents.

1. Learn about and download Maestral: https://maestral.app/download/
2. Open the GUI.
3. Get the token and connect it.
4. Connect your external hard drive and make a destination folder.
5. Choose that folder in Maestral, click the button, The menu bar menu should say "Setting up...". Hit close on the window.
6. Wait.

cc @smekuria @rferretti @MarkyMark1 @Johngcolejr @michelle32 @julianskipworth @IT Operations 202 @sl14 @ssalenger @joelfriedman