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I am trying to simply copy my Dropbox directory over to my new pc. Everything is the same, username, directory structure etc. The Dropbox directory is full of links. Nothing I try works. I have tried all the options on these pages: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10330984/linux-copy-symbolic-link How to copy symbolic links? running Ubuntu 18.045 MATE

I have already transferred all the files in their directories. On each computer I have links in the dropbox directory to the directories I want to sync. Now I want to copy the dropbox directory with the links in to the new computer.

I have transferred all the files by sneaker net. That is all done. Now I am trying to set up dropbox. On the 'parent' computer the dropbox directory contains all links. The links are to the various directories on my system I want synched. I need to set up the dropbox directory in the new computer with these links. Doing them one by one is feasible but time consuming. What I want to do is copy the existing 'parent' directory, with all the links, on the original computer, which is still in operation, to the new computer.

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  • Are you sure the items in your Dropbox folder were actually downloaded? The easiest way to transfer Dropbox is to connect it on the new computer and allow it to download the items. And most of these cloud drives do not download all of the files right away to save space on the computer or device.
    – music2myear
    Commented Mar 20, 2019 at 16:15
  • Thanks. I have already transferred all the files in their directories. On each computer I have links in the dropbox directory to the directories I want to sync. Now I want to copy the dropbox directory with the links in to the new computer.
    – user3183042
    Commented Mar 20, 2019 at 16:21
  • You need to check the settings of DropBox and make sure that all of the files are actually downloaded to your computer.
    – music2myear
    Commented Mar 20, 2019 at 16:28
  • I have transferred all the files by sneaker net. That is all done. Now I am trying to set up dropbox. On the 'parent' computer the dropbox directory contains all links. The links are to the various directories on my system I want synched. I need to set up the dropbox directory in the new computer with these links. Doing them one by one is feasible but time consuming. What I want to do is copy the existing 'parent' directory, with all the links, on the original computer, which is still in operation, to the new computer.
    – user3183042
    Commented Mar 20, 2019 at 16:39
  • Please use the EDIT button to add this and any other helpful and clarifying information to your original question so that others don't have to read through the comments to grasp what you're trying to accomplish.
    – music2myear
    Commented Mar 20, 2019 at 16:42

1 Answer 1

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cp -rP When trying to get this to work I missed the comment: You might need to add -R, because otherwise cp will skip directories and symlinks to directories. So I kept getting the message that the link I wanted to copy was skipped.

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