Solved Need help from Dropbox experts regarding syncing...

[mitchellvii]

Yes cloud corruption does make me paranoid. That's why I have been maintaining two copies of my ExecutiveDecision folder on my SSD, one in its normal spot and one in the Dropbox folder.

Once a day I drag the normal one into the Dropbox one. That's where I have some confusion. Will it overwrite older files on Dropbox with the new files I am dragging in or only write files with new names to Dropbox and not update the others? This isn't clear to me.

 

[wynand32]

Once a day I drag the normal one into the Dropbox one. That's where I have some confusion. Will it overwrite older files on Dropbox with the new files I am dragging in or only write files with new names to Dropbox and not update the others? This isn't clear to me.

If I'm not mistaken, the local DB (or OD) folder is like any other folder--copy or move from another folder, it'll add new files and overwrite existing files (with the requisite dialog box). That's assuming your using Windows Explorer (which is how I manage mine). Then, everything will upload and replace what's on DB or add what's new.

 

[m98custom1212]

I use Copy and Mega. I dont like dropbox,one drives and google drives terms.

Copy is 15gb free plus referral bonus no cap

Mega is 50 free.

 

[mitchellvii]

Ok, update on copying local folder to Dropbox.

Just tested copying my local ExecutiveDecision folder (about 5 GB) to my Dropbox folder. It goes through some gyrations and then tells me that my Dropbox folder has some files with the same names, do I wish to overwrite them or not:

1) If I choose to overwrite them, it apparently overwrites EVERYTHING rather than just the new or changed files.
2) If I choose not to overwrite them, it writes new files with new names but does NOT update existing files with the same names even if the file I am trying to write is newer.

In other words, this isn't really a sync but a brute force overwrite.

I am guessing this means that if I want my Dropbox to contain the latest files, I must completely overwrite the original 5 GB folder? Does this also mean that Dropbox will overwrite the entire folder in the cloud, or just the changes? Am I looking at a 5GB syncfest every time I do this even if only a few files have changed?

Of course I could avoid this by letting my ExecutiveDecision folder live in Dropbox all the time but that makes me nervous in case Dropbox goes nuts at 2 am and decides to destroy my local folder.

I kind of miss good old SyncToy that would sync only changed files. Is there a cloud backup service out there which performs a true syncing of only updated files?

 

[Andycam]

A decent tip if anyone have an Office 365 account and a MySite/OneDrive for business space there with the 1TB storage is this one:
http://www.sharepointsearch.ch/map-onedrive-for-business-as-drive

I've set that up on my SP3 and it does not require any local storage for local copy of the files. BUT it will of course require internet connection to access the files. A nice way of being able to use some of that space. That is what I would call a "SkyDrive".

 

[malberttoo]

Ok, update on copying local folder to Dropbox.

Just tested copying my local ExecutiveDecision folder (about 5 GB) to my Dropbox folder. It goes through some gyrations and then tells me that my Dropbox folder has some files with the same names, do I wish to overwrite them or not:

1) If I choose to overwrite them, it apparently overwrites EVERYTHING rather than just the new or changed files.
2) If I choose not to overwrite them, it writes new files with new names but does NOT update existing files with the same names even if the file I am trying to write is newer.

In other words, this isn't really a sync but a brute force overwrite.

I am guessing this means that if I want my Dropbox to contain the latest files, I must completely overwrite the original 5 GB folder? Does this also mean that Dropbox will overwrite the entire folder in the cloud, or just the changes? Am I looking at a 5GB syncfest every time I do this even if only a few files have changed?

Of course I could avoid this by letting my ExecutiveDecision folder live in Dropbox all the time but that makes me nervous in case Dropbox goes nuts at 2 am and decides to destroy my local folder.

I kind of miss good old SyncToy that would sync only changed files. Is there a cloud backup service out there which performs a true syncing of only updated files?

Maybe you could work off the file in DB, and when you're done, make a copy of the file and copy it somewhere else on your machine. Instead of working on a non-DB copy, and then trying to drop it into DB when you're done with it.

 

[mitchellvii]

Maybe you could work off the file in DB, and when you're done, make a copy of the file and copy it somewhere else on your machine. Instead of working on a non-DB copy, and then trying to drop it into DB when you're done with it.

Hey something just occurred to me.

Why don't I maintain my non-Dropbox ExecutiveDecision folder and use Sync Toy to update only new and changed files to my local Dropbox folder? That way Dropbox syncs only new stuff.

It's so crazy it just might work.

 

[ctitanic]

I assume that is directed at me? Why wouldn't I use it?

Sorry, it was directed to the OP.

 

[mitchellvii]

Yeah, I think this combination of Sync Toy and Dropbox may work. I set up my local ExecutiveDecision folder as the left side and my Dropbox ExecutiveDecision folder as the right side. I then set up the relationship as "Echo" which means all new and updated files flow left to right only - that way if Dropbox is farked it can't mess up my local folder.

Now Dropbox will see only the newer files and solves the whole massive sync issue.

Cool.

** UPDATE: Just ran it. Works awesome. Perfect. Yay.

 

[malberttoo]

Yeah, I think this combination of Sync Toy and Dropbox may work. I set up my local ExecutiveDecision folder as the left side and my Dropbox ExecutiveDecision folder as the right side. I then set up the relationship as "Contribute" which means all new and updated files flow left to right only - that way if Dropbox is farked it can't mess up my local folder.

Now Dropbox will see only the newer files and solves the whole massive sync issue.

Cool.

** UPDATE: Just ran it. Works awesome. Perfect. Yay.

Yay indeed!

 

[mitchellvii]

Yay indeed!

Cool right?

 

[mitchellvii]

I think I'll use Dropbox for any files I may want to share such as music, pictures, etc. since Dropbox has that cool "Share Dropbox Link" feature and use OneDrive for backing up my business files.

** UPDATE: Relationship should be "Echo", not Contribute.