Benefits to backup files to Dropbox

Founded in 2007, Dropbox is the most popular cloud storage on the market and it continues to improve its features. Every user begins with 2GB free storage by signing up with Dropbox. It offers easy and secure uploading with 256-bit AES and SSL/TLS encryption and there is no file size upload limit with drag and drop function.  Is Dropbox good for backup and why need to backup files to Dropbox? Mainly because of the following advantages.

☛Great sharing: Dropbox lets users save space and share files quickly. You can share your files with anyone, even those without Dropbox accounts. By sharing, people can access your file with a password and add the expiration dates to the link you send to share your files. Especially for teamwork, that’s where Dropbox does a good job.

☛Easy to use: Plus, for those who need to refer to the previous version of any documents, you can restore deleted files up to 30 days after they were removed. Also, Dropbox has a document scanning option, which is a time saver as after you scan a document, the system will tweak the scan and upload it as a PDF or JPEG file to the cloud. 

☛Multi-devices available: computer apps for Microsoft Windows, Apple macOS, and Linux computers; mobile apps for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone smartphones and tablets.

Since Dropbox is such an excellent cloud storage service that simplifies life and work. Many users would like to use Dropbox as a backup and save computer files to Dropbox due to different purposes. If you are planning to back up to Dropbox, please read on. Here is an ultimate guide on how to use Dropbox to backup files or how to take the Dropbox automatic backup.

How to backup files to Dropbox in 5 free Ways

Generally, you can backup files and folders to Dropbox in three ways. The first way is to visit the Dropbox website and upload your files manually. The second way is to install the desktop app on your computer, then, add files to your Dropbox folder and let Dropbox automatically sync them. For mobile device users, you can also backup to Dropbox via the Dropbox mobile app and you could backup files to Dropbox via Dropbox Backup. But here you have another free alternative way to perform Dropbox computer backup. Please read on to learn how to backup files to Dropbox with 4 free ways.

Way 1. Automatically backup computer to Dropbox via desktop app

How to automatically backup files to dropbox? If you want to back up computer files to Dropbox, Dropbox has a desktop app to help you backup Dropbox folders on Microsoft Windows, Apple macOS, and Linux computers. Download and install the desktop application on your PC. Sign in to your Dropbox account after running it. If not, just create one.

Step 1. Download and install the Dropbox desktop application on your computer.

Step 2. Sign in to your Dropbox account.

Step 3. By default, the Dropbox folder will appear on your computer, located at C:\Users\YourUserName\Dropbox. To backup computer files to Dropbox, you just need to directly drag and drop them into that folder.

Step 4. The newly added data will be automatically uploaded to the Dropbox cloud storage.

✎ Tips:

The free Dropbox account is limited to 2GB. If you want to get more Dropbox free storage, you can invite friends or just pay for it.

Dropbox only syncs the folders in Dropbox folder, if you prefer to sync folders outside of Dropbox folder, what should do you? Please get the easy ways to let Dropbox sync folders outside the Dropbox folder.

Way 2. Manually backup files to Dropbox via Dropbox website

Another way to back up files to Dropbox is using the Dropbox website. If the number of files to be uploaded is not large and you are quite familiar with the Dropbox file upload process, you can also choose to manually upload files one by one to Dropbox.

Step 1. Go to the Dropbox website and sign in to your account.

Step 2. On the Dropbox main page, click the Upload button > Upload files or Upload Folder. In this way, the file size is up to 20GB.

Note: This way is not the effective way to back up a large number of files or large files to Dropbox but you could let Dropbox backup specific folders, and the backup process will be much longer than you expected. Meanwhile, the file size limit is 50GB use the Dropbox website to upload.

Way 3. Backup files to Dropbox via Dropbox mobile app

Step 1. Install the Dropbox app from the App Store or Google Play.

Step 2. Turn on Wi-Fi before installing apps or uploading files to save your mobile data.

Step 3. Open Dropbox and tap Sign Up. Enter your name and contact information, then tap Create Account to complete the sign-up. If you already have a Dropbox account, tap Sign in and log in with your Dropbox username and password.

Step 4. Tap the "+" icon. If you are using an Android device, the + icon is located in the lower-left corner.

Step 5. Tap Create or upload file (iPhone) or Upload files (Android) to select the file(s) you want to upload, then tap Upload files. This will backup files to the Dropbox folder.

Way 4. Backup External Hard Drive to Dropbox via Dropbox Backup

Here is a Dropbox Backup feature, which allows you to backup external hard drive to Dropbox automatically, once you have enabled Dropbox Backup for the external hard drive, and connected your external hard drive to the computer, the external drive will be automatically uploaded to Dropbox. However, it's a paid feature and offers additional service.

Here are the steps to backup external hard drive to Dropbox via the Dropbox Backup feature:

1. Connect your external drive to your computer, and then your computer will pop up a window, click it and it displays a window.

2. Tap Import Photos and Videos to Dropbox.

3. Then it will start backing up your photos and videos from your external hard drive to Dropbox automatically.

Way 5. Auto Backup files to Dropbox via free cloud backup service

All of the above methods need to manually add files to the service when you have new files and you cannot back up the entire computer to Dropbox using the above ways. So, how to backup computer to Dropbox in an easier way? Here comes the free cloud backup service - CBackup to help you. CBackup not only provides a professional method to back up or sync any files to Dropbox but also allows you to backup the entire computer to Dropbox as long as you have enough cloud storage space to hold them all, freeing up disk storage space.

Most importantly, you could backup files to Dropbox automatically via the Scheduler, backup daily, weekly, monthly or at a specific time.

Please read on to check the detailed steps to perform Dropbox PC backup easily via CBackup.

Step 1. Download CBackup, create a CBackup account and log in.

Step 2. Click Storage on the left side, choose Dropbox, and hit Authorize Now. Then follow the on-screen guide to allow CBackup to access your Dropbox files.

Step 3. Go to Backup > Backup PC to Public Cloud to create a backup task.

Step 4. Select the entire computer in the Source tab, and choose your Dropbox account as the backup destination.

Step 5. Go to Settings > Scheduler, to enable this function (tick the Set a backup schedule for automated backup option), and select the frequency or specific time that the task needs to be automatically performed.

Step 6. Click Start Backup to backup the computer to Dropbox automatically.

★Tips:

If you want to switch cloud drives, you could choose cloud to cloud sync feature to transfer everything from one cloud to another easily.

Except for Dropbox, CBackup could also backup files to Google Drive, OneDrive, CBackup Cloud, even combined cloud.

Want to backup Dropbox to another cloud automatically for data safekeeping? You only need to go to the CBackup website and learn the cloud to cloud backup method. You can easily backup the data in Dropbox directly to another cloud, adding an extra layer of protection to the data.

Provides you 5GB free cloud storage of CBackup Cloud, which protect your data more safely.

3 Tips: Get more free Dropbox space

As mentioned above, Dropbox only provides 2GB of storage for free, which is intolerant of using Dropbox for backup. Just a few videos may use up this space. Is there any way to get more Dropbox backup space for free?

Tip 1. Refer friends to Dropbox

Share a unique link with your families, friends, or colleagues. If they click the link and sign up or install Dropbox on their computers, you will get 500 MB of bonus space for each. But the maximum is 16GB. Once you reached the maximum, you can no longer get free space in this way.

Tip 2. Connect Facebook & Twitter accounts to Dropbox

Connect Facebook and Twitter accounts to Dropbox, you can collaborate the contacts in those social media sites. You can also get 125MB for each account.

Tip 3. Merge multiple Dropbox accounts

Dropbox provides each user with 2GB of free cloud storage. So, you can register two or more accounts to enjoy countless 2GB. If you don't want to switch accounts frequently, you can merge Dropbox accounts in one place with CBackup, which is a cloud backup service that provides the option to combine cloud storage accounts with just one login. Here are the steps to use CBackup to combine Dropbox accounts (even different clouds):

Step 1. Log in to CBackup, click Storage on the left side, and click + Add Cloud button, then choose Dropbox and hit Add. Then follow the on-screen guide to allow CBackup to access your cloud storage.

Step 2. After adding, all your Dropbox accounts are listed here. Click the Storage > + Add Combined Cloud option on the top.

Step 3. Tick the box next to the cloud storage account that you want to combine. After checking, click on Next. Then choose the backup order for Dropbox accounts, then click Combine.

Step 4. Then, you will have a Combined Cloud in My Storage list. You can choose Backup PC to Combined Cloud to enjoy this huge backup space while configuring a backup task.

Conclusion

By following the methods above, you can easily backup files to Dropbox. With no doubt that Dropbox is a good backup solution for your precious, but the free storage space may be running out quickly. If you don't want to upgrade for more storage, you can get more free storage through the tricks provided by Dropbox or CBackup. 

What's more, the data in Dropbox is not absolutely secure, CBackup supports cloud-to-cloud backup of your data. so, you'd better backup Dropbox to Google Drive/OneDrive/FTP/SFTP directly with CBackup just in case, saving you a lot of time and energy.