I need to copy (not move) a Dropbox folder to an external hard drive.

The Dropbox folder is designed to be a two way portal for anything you want in your Dropbox account and on a computer.

If you copy from the Dropbox folder, you can set the original in the Dropbox folder to "Online", after, which would all but instantaneously stop it taking up any space.

Is the the end goal to have the entire Dropbox account copied onto an external hard drive, and be able to make changes on the external drive without deleting or changing anything in Dropbox?

Signing out of the app will leave a Dropbox folder that can be moved, renamed, copied — all without any changes reflecting back to the account.

If you prefer to keep the app connected and keep using it to sync, you can set items to be ignored on the computer so changes made won't reflect to the web.

For more on how to do that, please check this out: https://help.dropbox.com/sync/ignored-files

Let me know if that might help!

All comments

Rich

@dukeeastwood wrote:
Can you COPY dropbox folder to an external hard drive? And when I mean COPY, I mean make a COPY... as in making a backup of the entire dropbox onto a large external har ddrive. If so HOW?

There's no specific feature that does that, but if you have all of your files syncing to your computer and marked as available offline, you can just use the copy function of your operating system to copy the Dropbox folder to any location you wish.

Hey @dukeeastwood,

Thanks for getting in touch!

Yes, exactly as @Rich mentioned, you can copy Dropbox folders, just like any other folder on the computer.

You will need to be able to fit them "Offline" to do that, so it's a good idea to check how big they are on Dropbox, first.

Next, have you got the Dropbox desktop application installed?

With the app installed, you just go to the Dropbox folder on your computer, right click the item you want to copy, and set it as "Offline" — check the sync staus to see when it's finished downloading, and you can copy and paste it in your external drive.

Give it a try and let me know how you get on!

How do I specify the location I want the files to download to?

This app looks like it needs A LOT of work...

like for instance... selecting "offline" is how you Download a file? Doesn't seem like the word "offline" should be used for that... very confusing

Jay

Hi @dukeeastwood, you can copy the files to a folder using your file explorer on your machine, and choose where to move the files.

When using the Dropbox desktop application, files are not necessarily on your machine, depending on your plan and OS. Marking files as available offline means that they are physically downloaded to your computer, so that you can then open them normally.

WHERE IS THE FILE??????????????????????

I MAKE IT "AVAILABLE OFFLINE" OKAY... BUT WHERE IS THE FILE???????????????????????????

IF IT'S AVAILABLE OFFLINE WHERE IS THE FILE LOCATED ON MY COMPUTER... I NEED TO KNOW WHERE IT IS... I NEED TO KEEP TRACK OF THE FILES DUE TO THEIR SIZE, TO MOVE THEM AROUND... THE DELETE THEM AFTER I MOVE THEM.... THIS APP IS THE WORST I'VE EVER SEEN IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I HAVE LARGE FOLDERS TO DOWNLOAD... WHY CAN'T I START BY TELLING IT THE LOCATION I WANT THE FILES TO BE MADE AVAILABLE OFFLINE AT!!!!!!!!!!! WHO MADE THIS APP??????????????????????????

BUT WHERE ARE THE FILE??????????????????

I did a test... i made one small file available offline... i copy it to a folder on my desktop... THEN when i try to delete that file, i get a warning box asking me IF I WANT TO DELETE IT FROM THE DROPBOX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NO!!!!!!!!!!

NO!!!!!!!!!!!

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HOLY ****... it's like dropbox doesn't understand the basic idea behind backing up files!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If I'm making something available offline... if I'm making a copy of something........... I WANT A ****ING COPY... I DON'T WANT THAT TO HAVE ANY LINK TO THE BACKUP ON DROPBOX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT IS THIS????????????????????????

I appreciate you're frustrated, so let's help you understand exactly what to do, and where.

Click the Dropbox app, near the time/date in the corner of your Desktop
In the app window, click the folder icon NOT the web icon
It will take you to exactly where the files are saved on the computer

From there, copy the file as you would any other file, and paste it wherever you like.

If it helps, think of the word "online" as meaning "on the internet", so "offline" here means it's on your computer, too. That is why you need to make it "offline" before you copy it. Does that make sense?

You don't need to delete it in Dropbox after you copy it. Just right click the file and make it "online" again. It will stop using space on your computer.

Let me know how you go!

i hate this app...

would it KILL dropbox...

TO LET ME DOWNLOAD MY OWN FILES IN A LOCATION I WANT TO DOWNLOAD THEM AT?????????????

Instead I have to "make available offline" which effectively copies the file directly over itself... THEN I have to copy and paste the file? So it has to take up TWICE as much space just so I can have a copy of it instead of allowing me to download the file where I want it the first time??!!!!!

WHO THERE THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA?????????????????

DO YOU NOT SEE HOW THIS MAY BE A PROBLEM WITH LARGE FILES? WITH LARGE FOLDERS????????????????????????

Complete and utter incompetent design. I'm so angry I want to cry....

I think it's time to look for another online storage company.

Where did you choose for Dropbox to download the files when you set up the app?

If you want to change it, you can see the app preferences.

Go to the Sync tab, and use the Move option and set the Dropbox folder to live somewhere else.

Really it doesn't matter... dropbox shouldn't be COPYING something JUST to be able to download it...it's stupid... JUST DOWNLOAD THE FILE

If I want to backup 13 TB of data , HOW CAN I DO THAT? It would require this pile of garbage app to copy 13 TB of data... taking up 13 TB of space that cannot be used JUST to "offline" the files... THEN I would have to cop and paste 13 TB of files USING another 13 TB of space... 26 TB and two copies of the files just to have one separate copy of those files.

I swear... how does no one there see the problem with this??????

How hard is the concept of "download to selected folder"?????????

This app is basically worthless because of this... it's absolutely infuriating. I Don't see how people aren't complaining about this EVERY SINGLE DAY! And I don't see how the support seems to not understand why this is the worst workflow imaginable for a storage backup company.

This is one of the greatest cases of incompetence I've ever seen in my life. I don't see how dropbox is in business.

Hi @dukeeastwood

Sorry if I'm still missing something, but just a thought:

Use the steps I gave you to move the Dropbox folder, to a hard drive that can fit what you want to work with, i.e. 13 TB of data
Let the files download fully (make them "offline")
When it's done, sign out of the desktop app.

After you sign out from the app, you'll have all the content you made offline in one place that you chose, no duplicates, and no chance of anything being deleted in Dropbox.

Let me know what you find.

But THEN... those files are IN a dropbox app folder... I need them NOT in a dropbox app folder.

K which goes back to my orginal request... If I KNEW what folder the "offline" files were located I could access those directly... take THOSE and not deal with the app... but no one seems to know where that folder is. And the thing is... I KNOW I've used that method before... yet NO ONE , including you professional support people, seem to know where the folder with the offline downloads resides.

Jay

Hi @dukeeastwood, the Dropbox folder itself is where the files are being downloaded to when you make files available offline. There isn't another 'offline file' location which is what you're expecting from your description.

If you're not sure of the location of your Dropbox folder, you can locate it using this method.

Once you've found the Dropbox folder, and that the files have a green syncing icon on them, you can copy the files to an external drive.

Why can't any of you see the problem with that?????????

That means those files exist IN a dropbox app folder... I can log out and move them... then if I log back in the app will sync with the app again... and I have seen ON THESE FORUMS that that results in files doing missing. If I leave them in the folder... they are always in a dopey drop box folder.... this is infuriating!

The Dropbox folder is designed to be a two way portal for anything you want in your Dropbox account and on a computer.

If you copy from the Dropbox folder, you can set the original in the Dropbox folder to "Online", after, which would all but instantaneously stop it taking up any space.

Is the the end goal to have the entire Dropbox account copied onto an external hard drive, and be able to make changes on the external drive without deleting or changing anything in Dropbox?

Signing out of the app will leave a Dropbox folder that can be moved, renamed, copied — all without any changes reflecting back to the account.

If you prefer to keep the app connected and keep using it to sync, you can set items to be ignored on the computer so changes made won't reflect to the web.

For more on how to do that, please check this out: https://help.dropbox.com/sync/ignored-files

Let me know if that might help!