Child Item

I'm trying to restore my backup on a new device, but nothing happens.

Device

Macbook Pro M2
Operating System/Browser (if using the web)

macOS 26.0
Dropbox App Version (if using the app)

v233.4.4938

Question or Issue

I used dropbox backup to backup the Documents and Desktop folders of my Mac before it went in for repair and I now want to restore the backup to my machine (which has a totally fresh macOS install). I am able to start the restoration in the dropbox app, which creates a new backup but does not seem to actually download the backed up folders - even though I can see them in the backup file in my online account. I've tried changing the folder permissions etc but it doesn't seem to make a difference, the download doesn't happen.

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Comments

Hannah

Thanks for reaching out to us, @bojs.

Let's see what we can find out here.

Have you tried restoring your backup using the steps in this article? And if so, what happened when you tried?

Keep me posted!

bojs

Hi Hannah - thanks for the reply.

I've now managed to download the files by going to the recently deleted files and manually downloading from the web, doing so from the main backup folder online didn't let me as it said there were too many files to zip. But this still doesn't fix the issue that clicking the restore button doesn't actually seem to restore my files - and it doesn't give me much confidence that the sync is working as expected - are you able to give me any advice as to how to get that working?

bojs

Actually - this still hasn't worked, it's only downloaded about 3gb of a total 40gb backup - so I'm still stuck, any help would be much appreciated @Hannah

Hannah

Thanks for the update, @bojs.

Can you let me know what you saw when you tried to restore your backup through the desktop app? Were you not prompted to restore the backup, like the steps in the article describe? Did you get any error messages?

Also, what's the Dropbox app's current sync status? You can see that by hovering over the Dropbox icon in your menu bar.

bojs

I was prompted to restore the backup, and I even got the "Restoring in progress..." screen, but the sync screen in the menu bar never starts downloading files and they don't appear on my desktop, it just updates some files (in the cloud I think) and then eventually says everything is up to date (it does get stuck on the last two for a while). I can see all my files when I go into my backup in the web app.

Nancy

Thanks for the updates, @bojs! Hope it’s alright to jump in.

Can you clarify the total size of your backup files?

If you haven’t already tried these steps, please give them a go (for one computer folder at a time) and let me know if they make any difference.

bojs

Hi Nancy, the backup is about 40gb, I have tried those steps but going folder by folder is simply not practical I'm afraid, particularly as the "Restore" option is supposed to do it in one and recreate the folder structure - this not working is the issue I'm trying to solve. It's worked before so I'm confused why it's not working now.

Nancy

I totally understand that, @bojs. From a quick look into our system, I can see you were also in touch with our support team and they’ve sent your case over to our specialists.

Our advanced team will look into your case and reply back to you via email, so keep checking your inbox from time to time. I’ve also left them an internal note on your behalf in the meantime.