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Backup external hard drive on multiple computers

I just started using Backup with my external HDD which has 3+ terabytes on it. I started the process on my main computer but since this is going to take a long time (I can’t keep my hard drive plugged into it all day) I thought about plugging the hard drive into my other computer, which also had Dropbox on it, and continue the upload there. Is this possible??

When I’m on the other computer (not the one I started the external drive backup with) it doesn’t show the external drive, but it does show the other computer. Would be very nice if the drive could be backed up/resumed on a separate computer under the same account.

Another question: what happens when the external drive breaks and I need to recover all 3+ terabytes to f data? Does Dropbox have a function that lets you download that amount somehow?

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Walter

Hi there @internetblue - thanks for using Dropbox and welcome to the Community!

I'm afraid it's not possible to resume the backup of an external drive on another computer apart from the one you originally initiated the backup. Thanks for your feedback on this - I've passed it on to the team for their consideration.

As for restoring your backed up files and/or folders, you can have a look here.

I hope this helps!

internetblue

Hey thanks for the reply, Walter! So the desktop app will take care of the large download size of greater than 3 terabytes?

Regarding the external hard drive issue, if I have a different computer in the future, which is very likely, will I then be unable to continue backing up my large external drive without starting over? Uploading 3 terabytes to Dropbox's servers takes almost a week...

Nancy

Hey @internetblue, sorry to jump in here.

In case you connect your external drive to another device, then a new back up folder will be created. The original back up folder will only update if the external drive is connected to the same device used to initiate the backup.

However, if your external drive is organized with subfolders, you can perhaps only back up the updated ones.

internetblue

Can you please elaborate on that/give an example? What do you mean that I would only be able to “backup up the updated ones”?

Also, I read on one of the forum posts that you can’t change the level folder hierarchy. Is that true? Does changing a folder at the highest level of file hierarchy destroy the backup? Can you elaborate on that too? I just want to understand it better.

Nancy

Absolutely! What I meant is that when connecting your external drive to a different computer, which is still linked to the same Dropbox account though, you can only choose to back up the folders that hadn’t been previously backed up on the old device (this could be folders that have files that were updated in the meantime for example).

This way, you won’t have to back up everything again from the start (since you mentioned you have a large amount of data), but you’ll only back up your updated folders. Your old backup should still be available on your account anyways, so you’ll have two backups now.

As for your last question, I’m linking our relevant Help Center article section, which explains this better.

MelanieDJ

This is really a shortfall in capability! I have a drive I use across multiple PCs and it's very frustrating that it won't update from any of them. Worse, it will create multiple copies. Love Dropbox in general, but this needs a solution.