How to Make Dropbox Full Backup (Simple, Affordable, Secure)

Is Dropbox a good backup solution?

Dropbox is a cloud-based file storage service that can sync your local folders between your personal devices and the cloud, and can be used for file sharing and collaboration. With Dropbox, it’s easy to back up your computer and access them from any device. Once you’ve set up your backups, your files will be secure and available whenever and wherever you need them. It has some focused features listed below:

▸The service retains historical versions of your files, so you can recover them in case of malware or even just accidental deletion.
▸The service offers 2 gigabytes (GB) of storage space for free, and everything is encrypted with 256-bit AES security.
▸If you are a photography enthusiast, you can automatically upload photos to Dropbox with Dropbox Camera Uploads feature.

So is Dropbox a good backup solution? If your purpose is just to sync files for better management or sharing, then it would be good solution. But if you have higher backup requirements such as: preventing files from accidental deletion, encryption against corruption, mass recovery, file compression, etc., you need to use a dedicated backup solution.

What’s the differences between Dropbox Backup vs Sync

There are 2 different features of Dropbox desktop app - sync or backup, which are two separate subscription plans. The primary function of Dropbox is the easy syncing of files between devices and the cloud. Not too long ago, Dropbox has released a new feature - Dropbox Backup.

Some of you may confused about the Dropbox backup and sync features. What’s the differences? You will be able to have a clear understanding through the following elements.

Dropbox sync: It refers to the process of copying data from local path to Dropbox cloud storage and then keeping future changes of the source file current on all copies. With a file sync solution, deleted source files are also deleted in the storage destination because syncing constantly tries to make your offsite storage duplicate your local hard drive.

Dropbox Backup: Your folders and files from your computer or external hard drives are automatically backed up to the Dropbox cloud and you can quickly recover your content if something goes wrong. Backups are intended to keep a copy of the data in case it is deleted or corrupted at the source.

Either Dropbox backup or file sync feature can be a good solution for you according to your real needs. To figure out the specific steps to make Dropbox backup entire computer, please keep reading the next sections.

How to make Dropbox full backup your computer

To help users who are wondering how to backup PC to Dropbox, this following part has already summarized 3 easy and effective ways for you to tackle this relevant issues without effort. You are capable to make full backup of your computer files using Dropbox desktop app in file sync and file backup features. And there is a reliable alternative to Dropbox client, you can not only backup your crucial files but also backup system-related partitions. If you wanna know more detailed information about the 3 ways, just check them one by one in the following contents.

• #1. Full backup PC files using Dropbox files sync
• #2. Full backup PC files using Dropbox Backup
• #3. Create full backup of PC to Dropbox with AOMEI Backupper Standard

#1. Full backup PC files using Dropbox files sync

Step 1. Download and install Dropbox desktop app on your computer. Then launch it and log in with your Dropbox account or create one if you don’t already have.

Step 2. On the Well done! Dropbox installed page, click on the Next button to proceed ahead. It is the best time for you to change the default Dropbox directory used for file syncing if you want. Click the Advanced settings button to change it.

Step 3. You can choose how to sync your files - Make files local and Make files online-only. Select the sync option and tap Continue.

Step 4. Then you’ll be prompted to add folders you’ll want to sync with other computers or backup online. Once you have your folder preferences ready, click on the Set up button to continue.

Tip: If you want to make Dropbox backup specific folders as you wish, just copy and paste or drag and drop the specific files or folders into Dropbox folder.

#2. Full backup PC files using Dropbox Backup

Step 1. Open your Dropbox desktop Preferences, click the Backups tab, then choose Set up.

Step 2. Under Add a backup, select PC you’d like to backup.

Step 3. Click Let’s get started.

Step 4. Check the boxes next to the folders you’d like to back up.

Step 5. Click Set up or Back up.

Useful tips: While the backup is in progress, click View Progress to check the status of a current or previous backup. Click Prioritize Files and select a specific file in File Explorer to back it up immediately. Click Skip Files and select any files in File Explorer that you wish to exclude from the next backup.

Scroll down further to the section for Adjust Settings. Click Change Folders to include or exclude specific folders for the backup. Click Save.

#3. Create full backup of PC to Dropbox with AOMEI Backupper Standard

You should notice that Dropbox only supports you to backup important files and folders on your PC. If you want to backup entire disk to the cloud, you may need the help of profession third-party software.

AOMEI Backupper Standard, the best free cloud backup software for Windows, allows you not only backup laptop files on Windows 11 for free, but also disks or your entire computer. With its easy-to-use interface, you can create system or disk image backup with only a few clicks. You can benefit a lot from its following features.

✎Various cloud device: You are able to backup to multiple cloud devices such as Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Box, SugarSync, hubiC, and CloudMe.
✎Schedule backup: It allows you to backup your computer data with fixed intervals, such as Daily, Weekly and Monthly.
✎Different backup paths: It supports you to backup files or other data to different destination paths, such as HDD, SSD, USB flash drive, network share, NAS, etc.
✎Incremental and differential backup: This backup method can backup only the changed parts of files to Dropbox, which makes backups more efficient and saves disk space.
✎Multiple Systems: This software supports multiple Windows operating systems, including Windows 11, 10, 8.1, 8, 7, XP, Vista, etc. If you are Server users, try AOMEI Backupper Server to make Server backup to cloud.

Moving on, you can follow the step-by-step guide below to enable Dropbox backup entire computer. Before that, you need to download both Dropbox desktop app and AOMEI Backupper Standard to your computer, and ensure that Dropbox cloud storage is sufficient enough to store backup image.  

Step 1. Launch this backup freeware, click Backup at the left panel, then click Disk Backup.

Step 2. Click + Add Disk to choose the current system disk as source disk.

Step 3. Click the second box below to select your Dropbox folder as the destination path to store the disk image. Dropbox folder is probably located in C:\Users\UserName\Dropbox by default.

 ✍Customize your backup settings:
▪ Options: You can write a comment for this backup operation to distinguish it from other backup tasks, enable email notifications to get timely notification of backup results, and can choose Enable encryption for backups (in Professional edition) to set password protection here.
▪ Schedule Backup: Click Schedule Backup in the bottom and choose a frequency for the backup task. You can choose from Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Event triggers, USB plug in (last two are available in advanced version).
▪ Backup Scheme: You can choose the backup method - full backup, incremental backup and differential backup. Here, you are allowed to automatically delete old backup images to free up storage space. Differential backup and automatic deletion of old backups are available in the Pro version.

Step 4. Once you've confirmed all your settings, click Start Backup to complete the process.

★ How to restore your computer when problems occur?

Click Restore > Select Task or Select Image File. Then, follow the wizard to complete the disk restore process.

Conclusion  

Now you know how to make Dropbox full backup your PC files or disks. You can use the different features of Dropbox's desktop application or rely on the professional backup software AOMEI Backupper for a complete backup of your disk data without the risk of losing it.

As a comprehensive data protection software, except backup function, it offers many other powerful features such as restore, sync, clone, etc. You can easily clone Windows 11 to another hard drive. You will find many reasons to firmly choose AOMEI Backupper as you proceed.