I've got a puzzling dilemma that I've been trying to solve for weeks. I want to backup almost 500 GBs from an external hard drive to my Dropbox Pro account.

  • My computer's hard drive is nowhere about equally large equally my EHD, and then I tin can't just move the file to the Dropbox binder.

  • I've tried using MacDropAny past Zibity to create a symbolic link, but when my EHD is no longer continued, Dropbox seems to assume these files accept been deleted, and propagates the deletion to the cloud.

  • I've likewise tried using GoodSync to do a one-mode sync to the cloud, but upload speeds seem to be and then slow that this is turning out to be impractical. (Dropbox'south ain streaming upload seems to be orders of magnitude faster.)

  • Finally, I've considered moving my Dropbox folder to the EHD, but this seems very inconvenient for any times when I don't happen to have my EHD plugged in.

I've been trying to find other options, and I merely haven't institute anything that would seem to suit my needs. Can anyone suggest a solution that will let me to upload this folder in a convenient and relatively speedy manor? Thanks!

asked Apr 26, 2015 at 8:15

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three

  • Um, so later yous've uploaded everything, the resulting dropbox is too big for a local hard bulldoze, right? That means you tin can but access your files via web (because you're external difficult drive isn't available all the time and your local storage is too small). Is that what you want? No local dropbox folder?

    Apr 26, 2015 at 9:01

  • No, I simply selective sync whatever my current projection folder happens to be.

    Apr 26, 2015 at nine:x

  • Um... What kind of symbolic link did the app create? I tried ln -southward on Bone X merely Dropbox doesn't seem to sync. Or is that because your external hard drive has the same file format as your Bone X drive? (I have a NTFS+ external hard bulldoze)

    May xiii, 2015 at 11:18

3 Answers 3

You can attempt to do this:

  • reattach the bulldoze and put the symbolic link again
  • let information technology sync until all of the content is in dropbox
  • remove the drive
  • allow Dropbox erase the folder content
  • remove the symbolic link
  • on the web, click on the button to bear witness deleted content
  • marker the folder for retrieval
  • in your Dropbox client, in selective sync marker the binder then that information technology does not sync with your Mac

That should do what you desire. And call back, you can besides use the selective sync for some sub folders, so that yous can still have some of the content in your Mac and without the drive.

answered Apr 26, 2015 at 10:51

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  • Did it work? It worked for my former supervisor 😉

    Apr 27, 2015 at 21:09

  • Thank you for the proposition! I currently uploading with the symbolic link as you suggested, but with my upload speeds, this will accept days. lol. I'll allow you know how it turns out.

    April 27, 2015 at 21:24

  • Wouldn't it be easier to merely marker specific folders to not be synchronized afterwards the upload to the Dropbox is complete and so removing the symbolic link. This way Dropbox would never even consider those file to be scheduled for deletion.

    Apr 29, 2015 at 17:06

  • @SilverWarior actually, you are quite right 😃

    Apr 29, 2015 at 20:26

Remember, Dropbox is sync service not a fill-in service. If you want, you tin manually upload the contents on the external hard drive (EHD) to a folder (archive) that you have unchecked in selective sync. Anything you send to that folder volition and so not sync with the local figurer. This is substantially what I practise for my Dropbox at work. My personal PC has a full sync, while my work Dropbox only has work related folders available.

answered Apr xxx, 2015 at 16:12

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Dropbox works with symbolic links, I accept verified information technology with various files which works flawlessly. I am currently uploading 500GB usb drive via symbolic links to my local dropbox folder via the Client app on my mac. I noticed that my USB bulldoze didn't let me to create new folders or symbolic link until I took ownership of it (it´s formatted with Mac OS Journled) and information technology´s enclosed items.

Every bit Im currently syncing roughly 450GB of photos, I´ll let you know whether there is any problems during my progress.

answered Aug 26, 2017 at 11:49

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