Dropbox can now automatically backup system folders

Dropbox has unveiled a slew of new features designed to bridge the gap between work and home, and making it a little easier to work from home, which a lot of us are doing at the moment. One new tool, computer backup, is arguably long overdue, but stands to make pivoting between projects and locations that bit easier.

Available from today, the feature automatically backs up your Mac or PC files in dedicated system folders to Dropbox, so you can access them on-the-go, or in the event that something happens to your hardware. Whereas before you had to allocate files to dedicated folders, now it’ll back up entire folders, giving users a much more comprehensive contingency plan in the event of something going wrong. It’ll also sync connected drives (such as external hard drives) as long as they’re connected to your computer when you set the backup to happen.

There are plenty of products on the market that do this sort of thing already — Backblaze, for example — but since so many people are using Dropbox already it makes sense to integrate this feature into a product that they’re already familiar with. Indeed, it’s always been a function of Dropbox to some degree, but in a more comprehensive named and packaged feature it makes it more of a contender to other backup products. And while it’ll come as part of Dropbox’s Professional and Plus packages, it’s also included in Dropbox Basic, which means no extra charges.