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How can I safely backup my music files from my old laptop to a new device?

Hello,

Hoping someone can explain something.

I have a laptop that I'm going to replace this year and have roughly 315GB of MP3 music that I'd like to back up.

If I were to put Dropbox on my current laptop and backup all my music, what would happen when I got a new laptop and downloaded Dropbox?

What I'd like to do would be to then download the saved music files to my new laptop and then have Dropbox back up anything new I add

What I'm concerned about is Dropbox syncing to my new laptop - seeing there's no music - and deleting my saved files or I manage to download my saved files onto my new computer but then the desktop app backs up/ syncs my new laptop again and I have two copies of all the files.

I may be overthinking this but just want it to go smoothly as these files are important to me.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks

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Megan

Hey @abitofhelpplease welcome to our Community!

From what I understand, you want to transfer your files from an old device, so you can then access them on your new laptop.

Is it safe to assume that the music files are currently saved on your device but not in Dropbox? If not feel free to clarify.

Here's how this can work. You can download, and install the Dropbox app on your old device.

Once installed the app will then create a Dropbox folder in your File Explorer. This folder mirrors your Dropbox account online.

Anything you add in there, will then sync to the website, and any other connected device.

When you're ready to switch to your new laptop, all you have to do is sign out of the app and uninstall it from your old device.

Then, you're free to follow the same process of downloading and installing the app on the new laptop. Once that's done, your files will begin syncing locally inside your Dropbox folder.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to let me know.

abitofhelpplease

Thanks for the reply! This seems to make sense and puts some of my worries to rest.

So to be clear

Download Dropbox on old device and let it sync and back up my files
When I have my new device I sign out on my old laptop and download Dropbox on the new laptop.
The files from my old laptop will be saved on Dropbox and I can put them (synch them) onto the new laptop?

Is that right? So anything that has synced from the old device will be there and available to put on my new device?

abitofhelpplease

Will this separate Dropbox folder mean all my music files are in two places on my laptop? Wouldn't that take up loads of room?

Can I just upload my files to Dropbox.com? Are there any disadvantages to this?

Sorry! You can tell I'm new to this.

abitofhelpplease

Will I have to manually drag my whole music folder into the Dropbox folder or can I set Dropbox to back up from where they are?

abitofhelpplease

Last question.

So all my Music MP3s are currently saved in my Music folder on my laptop and sync to my WMP.

How can I back these files up?

Will dragging the Music folder into Dropbox not move things around and create an issue? Will copy and paste not just mean I have two copies of every music file on my laptop and no space?

Sorry, still a bit confused.

Nancy

Hi @abitofhelpplease! Hope you don't mind if I chime in.

As for your first post, yes you’re correct; the only thing I’d like to mention is to make sure that all of your .mp3 files have been synced to your Dropbox account online before signing out/uninstalling the Dropbox app on your old machine.

You can do this by checking www.dropbox.com to make sure all of your files show there or by looking at your Dropbox app’s sync status on your old computer to make sure it’s up to date and no longer syncing (also, keep in mind that given the size of files you want to sync and depending on your internet connection, the syncing process may take a while so it's best to leave the device on till it's complete).

Regarding your second post, if you copy the files within the local Dropbox folder to sync them, then they should take up double the space from your hard drive indeed, but once they’ve been all uploaded to your Dropbox account and you’ve synced them to your new device, you can go ahead and delete them from the Music folder on your old device.

To sync your files, you’ll either need to copy or move them inside the Dropbox folder (your Dropbox account online automatically syncs what’s inside your Dropbox folder and not other folders on the computer). I wouldn't suggest moving the entire Music folder inside Dropbox; just the files that it contains.

Hope this clarifies things a bit. Feel free to nudge me, otherwise.

abitofhelpplease

Thanks for the reply. I think that makes sense, looks like Dropbox might not be the one for me unfortunately.

Essentially what I'd like is a cloud storage that acts like a physical external hard drive. A place I can drag my Music files over to, store safely regardless of what happens with my laptop and restore when needed. When I do a restore I'd like to be able to simply drag over my Music file from storage and leave it for a few hours to transfer to my new device (without a limit on how much I can restore in one go).

Maybe what I'd like doesn't quite exist yet.

I don't like the idea of having to move all my files from the Music folder to back them up unfortunately.