Point Dropbox to old Dropbox location

Question

My system crashed hard, and I had to do a clean install of Windows 10. Luckily my Dropbox was setup in D drive. Now after I reinstalled Dropbox, it defaults to C drive as its location. When I try to change the location (using the Dropbox desktop app's Preference>Sync settings page) to the old location (in D drive) it says "This folder already contains a Dropbox directory". This wont let me point Dropbox to an old/existing Dropbox location which still may have some unsynced files. How can I force Dropbox to use my old location in this case. Help!

killswitch · Answer

Thanks, I will give this approach a go.

Rich · Answer

@killswitch wrote:This wont let me point Dropbox to an old/existing Dropbox location which still may have some unsynced files. How can I force Dropbox to use my old location in this case.

First, make a backup any files that you believe haven't synced, just in case.

Uninstall Dropbox if it's installed. Rename your existing Dropbox folder to Dropbox_OLD or similar. Reinstall Dropbox and select the location that you want for the Dropbox folder. When the installation is finished, Dropbox will immediately start to sync. Pause syncing or exit Dropbox. Move the content of Dropbox_OLD into the newly created Dropbox folder. When the move is complete, and not before, resume syncing or re-launch Dropbox.

At this point Dropbox will begin indexing all of your files. This process will take a while, especially if you have a lot of data to go through. During this time it may say that files are uploading or downloading, but it's only transferring comparison data and any changes that it finds. Be patient and LET IT WORK.