Child Item

Camera Uploads from USB drive not working

I have Autoplay set up to import new photos from USB drives, and this has worked for years on my old USB stick. I've started using a new one, but it refuses to upload any of the photos to my Camera Uploads folder. I still have enough space left, and it offers me the chance to add the drive to my Backup (but this doesn't help me because I want the photos renamed according to the date they were taken). Camera Uploads still works for my Android phone, so it's clearly capable of recognising photos from there.

Find more posts tagged with

Desktop

Camera Uploads

Sync

Upload

Dropbox Basic

Insightful

Agree

Closed - Partially Delivered

Comments

Megan

Hey @35567ggg, let's jump right into this!

Let me make sure we're on the same page here: if I understand your need correctly, it sounds like you wish to automatically upload your USB content to your Camera uploads folder, am I right?

If not, feel free to correct me, and let me know more!

Camera uploads is a feature that automatically uploads photos from your mobile device to Dropbox.

If you wish to have your USB content there, you'd need to either upload them using our external backup feature, or to upload them first inside the root of your account, and then move them to your Camera uploads folder.

Let me know more, and we'll take it from there!

35567ggg

Hi Megan! Yes, I'd like to automatically upload files to Camera Uploads - I used to be able to do this with another USB stick where it would rename the pictures and videos according to the date they were generated, which was really handy (plus Dropbox would remember which ones it had already processed). I already had this working, and now it isn't.

Rich

@Megan wrote:
Camera uploads is a feature that automatically uploads photos from your mobile device to Dropbox.

It's also a feature that uploads photos from USB devices you plug in to your computer.

@35567ggg wrote:
I used to be able to do this with another USB stick ... I already had this working, and now it isn't.

Double check your autoplay settings and make sure it's still set to Import photos and videos (Dropbox).

35567ggg

I've already done this, it still doesn't pick the photos up.

Nancy

Hi from me too, @35567ggg!

You may have tried this already, but just to double check; did you also disable and re-enable camera uploads on your desktop app, and there’s no difference?

Can you send me the OS version of your computer, as well as the app version of the Dropbox app?

35567ggg

Hi - I've tried this, I've set Autoplay to prompt me whether I want to back up the photos and videos, it's asked me about this, I've chosen to Import and it still isn't doing anything. I said not to do a full Backup when prompted (because I don't want the full backup, I just want the new photos to be imported to Camera Upload).

I'm using Windows 10 Pro (2H22) and Dropbox v192. 4. 4605

Hannah

Hey @35567ggg, thanks for the ping here.

What's the current sync status of the app, when you hover over the Dropbox icon in your system tray?

35567ggg

Up To Date - it still syncs photos perfectly fine from my phone camera and the app on there, it's just USB connections which don't seem to sync

Nancy

Hi again, @35567ggg. What I can suggest next is to reinstall the Dropbox app on your computer and try again.

Before you do this, please make sure that you’re not currently on a free Basic account with more than 3 devices linked to it.

35567ggg

Hi @Nancy - still no luck after reinstalling, even after manually opening Autoplay again and choosing to backup. I definitely only have two devices active at the moment

Hannah

Hey @35567ggg, if you haven't already, can you also restart your computer and let me know if that helps at all?

35567ggg

Hi @Hannah - I've done that a few times as well since reinstalling, no effect yet

Jay

Hi @35567ggg, just for clarification, when you get the option to import pictures and videos, when you click, there is literally no other prompt or message from the Dropbox desktop application?

35567ggg

Hi @Jay - nothing when I plug in my USB sticks, although I've now seen an Import popup appear when I plug in an SD card via a USB-C reader. I don't see this appear when I plug in either of my USB 2.0 flash drives, though

Jay

Hi @35567ggg, the camera upload feature on the Dropbox desktop application will only process uploads of images and videos from camera devices specifically; not any kind of storage device connected to the device.

The OS makes various designations about different storage devices that connect to computers, so while the computer recognizes this storage device (USB stick), the computer also acknowledges this isn’t an actual camera device (like a digital camera, a phone, or an SD card which is usually inserted into a camera).

For a device like this, you would need to manually move/copy content from your USB drive into your Dropbox folder.

35567ggg

Hi @Jay - I've definitely been able to use Camera Uploads with that USB stick in the past, using images originally taken with a camera device, so it's absolutely been able to manage this beforehand

Megan

Hi @35567ggg, I'm here to second what my colleague, @Jay mentioned.

Also, I need to remind you that you can always backup your external USB drive using these steps instead.

You can access the app's preferences, and then click on the “Backups” tab.

From there, you can check your Backup, or camera uploads settings too.

I hope this helps!

35567ggg

I've now tried using an SDXC card for this and it still isn't backing up from that when I plug it in