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Dropbox Backup shows external drive not plugged in even though it is

I have Dropbox Backup backing up my iMac and have added my external SSD as an additional backup. Everything went well until I restarted the computer and the external disk was then shown as unplugged with lots of buttons now greyed out. This has the disadvantage of not allowing me to adjust the folders I would like to back up. So I did unplug it and plugged it back in again to no effect. It seems to be backing up with the initial folder selection as expected though.

I am running version 161.4.4923 and Ventura 13.0.1 and the SSD is formatted as APFS.

Screenshot 2022-11-11 at 17.34.34.png

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Nancy

Hi @jhedleyj, and welcome back to the forum.

I’d like you to clarify a few things first, so that we can have a clearer image of what’s happening; when your computer rebooted, was the Dropbox app still in the process of backing up your external hard drive?

Also, if you check your menu bar, can you see the Dropbox icon, along with its current syncing status? If yes, please let me know what that is.

Keep me posted for more updates!

jhedleyj

Hi Nancy

It may have been updating but I can't be sure. Also, the Dropbox icon is there and the SSD Backup is "up to date". However, the iMac is stating "Backing up" but it has been like that for weeks and does not change even though it is "up to date".

jhedleyj

Hello again Nancy

To confirm - the SSD has updated but the desktop

app remains convinced that it needs to be plugged in.

Screenshot 2022-11-12 at 09.14.22.png

Nancy

Thanks for the extra info!

I was able to do a little digging in the meantime, and I can see that you already have an open ticket regarding this issue, which has been escalated to our advanced team.

Now, since they have more visibility on your Dropbox account, I’d recommend continuing with them directly. I’ve also left them an internal note, so that they can see our convo here.

natachajay

Can we get an update on this? I am experiencing the same issue.

Megan

Hey @natachajay, I hope you're doing well!

Do you have an open ticket with our Support team, by any chance? Are you still experiencing the same issue?

Keep me posted!

radiofc

Did you solve this? I am facing the same issue..

joeking1

I have the same issue.. Backup is working, but Drive in Backup shows as "unplugged" and prompt asks to "Plug in [DRIVE] to resume backup and keep your files up-to-date"

Nancy

Hi @joeking1, I hope you’re doing well and apologies for the late reply, @radiofc.

If this is still an issue on your desktop apps, can you send me the app version that the Dropbox app’s running on your devices?

Also, did this start happening after restarting your computers?

joeking1

Dropbox V 171.4.6182 is the only version I could find. Windows 11 64-Bit.

joeking1

It started happening during a sync for BACKUP... it took over 4 days for <1TB of backup from external drive to Dropbox cloud. Have re-booted and powered down several times to clear, but doesnt help. Computer shows the external drive as active...

Hannah

Hey @joeking1, can you check your backups page online, to see what if your external drive appears as active and connected there?

magestyx

I've been dealing with this issue for a few weeks, too. Windows 10, Dropbox 172.4.7555.

I have Dropbox set to backup two external drives, which are physically a RAID array of 5 drives in a NAS box and setup as RAID through Windows.

It worked fine for months, but suddenly one day a few weeks back I had to restore some files and found that Dropbox was saying to plug in the drives. They're of course plugged in and working fine. It had also occurred to me that some files that change regularly on those drives I hadn't seen listed recently in the recent activity shown when clicking the dropbox app icon in the taskbar.
I just found this thread and checked my backup page online per this latest post and to my surprise it -appears- that those files are indeed being backed up. Files I changed in the past couple days showed their correct last modified date. So that's good.

But it's still disconcerting that an app being used for important backups doesn't say or understand that it's actually working.
It'd be great to have a fix for this.

BBear

I have the same problem with my two Macs. Running Big Sur on one and Ventura on the other. The dropbox folder is on my computers and they sync just fine. The external drive that now is not recognized by Dropbox ("not plugged in" even though it is plugged in) used to back up to around February 21, 2023. The drive is a Seagate with 2Tb of memory. I store my Lightroom files on it. I have another drive, a 100 GB Verbatum SSD which has some lightroom files on it. It partially backed up and then stoped. Right now dropbox is trying to finish backing it up even though it has been disconnected. Note, my computers have no problem accessing both of these external drives. Both drives are formatted with an apple file structure. I formatted a thumb drive with the apple file structure and it seems to run OK on either computer with Dropbox.

Additional. Some of the files on the external hard drive are also in the dropbox folder on the computer hard drive. Wanted to make sure they were where I wanted them in the cloud before wiping them out on the dropbox folder. Have NTFS for MAC on one computer (Ventura), (it did not cause a problem in the past) and Paragon (does the same thing) on the other computer. I have also encountered an error message that dropbox cannot read a file on the external hard drive. I noticed that the Seagate external hard drive is listed on the dropbox app as having many duplicates, none of which have any content.

Jaquie D

I have been experiencing a similar issue with Dropbox Backup on my Mac for the past few days. I thought that restarting might sort this out but it hasn't.

Hannah

Hey @Jaquie D and anyone else having this issue.

Can you hover over your Dropbox icon and let me know what the sync status of the app is and which version you're currently using?

Jaquie D

Hi Hannah, the sync status says "Up to date" and the version no. is 182.4.6427.

Thanks

Jay

HI @Jaquie D, could you try disconnecting and reconnecting the external drive while the Dropbox desktop application is running, and see if this detects and resumes the backup?

Jaquie D

I have done that but Dropbox Backup still says that the drive is unplugged.

Jay

Have you made any other changes to the machine, such as updating the OS, or making any changes to the external drive settings?

Jaquie D

Jay

Could you try rebooting the machine, while leaving the external drive connected to the machine, to see if this helps?

Jaquie D

I have tried restarting but Dropbox Backup still says the drive is unplugged.

Jay

Thanks for the info, in order to look into this matter in more detail, would it be possible to reach out to the email associated with your forum profile?

Jaquie D

Yes sure, it's [Removed as per Community Guidelines]

Jay

Thanks, I've sent you an email, please could you reply to it when you get a chance.