Neal Spangler

Work Infrastructure

Company files left Dropbox for storage the shop owns

I audited the Dropbox account, filled gaps in the NAS copy and moved computers over in waves. The shop's files sit on its own NAS with snapshots. Cancellation depends on an offsite restore test.

Dropbox exit migration flow Every team, member and shared folder in Dropbox was audited through the API, mirrored to the NAS by a fixed hourly sync, piloted on one computer, then rolled out to Mac and Windows machines in waves. The account is cancelled only after an offsite restore test. Dropbox team, member, shared API audit every folder listed NAS mirror hourly sync, fixed Pilot one computer Waves Mac and Windows account cancelled only after an offsite restore test Audit, mirror, pilot and rollout
The API audit checked the NAS copy before the pilot and rollout.
560,284files mirrored and verified
34shared folders audited through the API
561 GBlocal disk freed on the first nine machines

The problem

The hourly Dropbox sync used a hardcoded folder list and missed whole sections of the account. I needed to check the NAS copy against the full account before moving computers off Dropbox.

What I did

  • Audited every team, member and shared folder through the Dropbox API and compared each one with the copy on the NAS.
  • Fixed the hourly sync so it covers every folder, and pulled in the shared folders the old list had missed.
  • Piloted the switch on one computer, wrote a step-by-step guide for Mac and Windows, then moved machines over in waves.
  • Kept account cancellation conditional on an offsite restore test.

What I took from it

The old sync reported success while its hardcoded folder list left whole sections out. I compared the account through the Dropbox API with the NAS copy before moving computers off Dropbox.

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