The Problem With OneDrive Backup
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- Опубликовано: 27 май 2024
- ❌ OneDrive's backup function is broken. I'll explain why and what to do about it.
❌ OneDrive Backup? No thanks
The “Manage folder backup” option in OneDrive moves the contents of your Documents (and Desktop and Pictures) folder into the OneDrive folder. This can cause you to exceed your OneDrive storage limits. Turning the feature off isn’t enough to undo the damage.
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Chapters
0:00 OneDrive Backup Problem
0:38 What it's doing
1:30 What happens to your documents
3:00 Finding your documents folders
5:15 The cloud
8:10 Enabling OneDrive backup
11:30 OneDrive moves Documents
13:10 Data limits
15:00 Turn off backup
16:00 Where are your documents?
17:20 Putting everything back
18:20 The short explanation
21:00 Recommendation
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Confused is putting it lightly, furious is more suitable. For close to an hour I thought I had lost all my files. Thank you for your video.
On my phone, I've backed up my photos , but i don't want to use onedrive as Its controlling my photos and i cant do anything (I'm kinda in the same predicament) . If if i disable it ,it removes my photos from my phone , I don't know how to stop it from doing this?
exactly.!
Thanks for this video, Leo. Another nasty thing with OneDrive is when you have two computers, doing two completely different kinds of work, and yet OneDrive only allows for one desktop folder. It creates a big mess in a big hurry with icons for programs that you don’t use on each of the computers and other useless annoyances.
Nice point! IHO MS haven't understand it's own products since Windows XP. (as I commented another comment that had another nice point)
Very good explanation! Yes, having multiple computers does create a big mess. But it can be fine if OneDrive is set up with multiple computers in mind. The trick is to have several folders (one for each PC) in the OneDrive folder on the each local PC. Then you can change the Documents shortcut to point to the new folder on the PC. If you like I can explain in more detail. I currently have 5 PCs using the same oneDrive account. Each PC will mirror to its own area on the cloud, but using file manager, you can get to any of the other areas for the other PCs. Also note that the desktop folders will all be merged unless not they are not segregated. Having a merged Desktop folder creates some 'interesting' results!
If the links are on the common desktop for that system, (which is where most program links go), they are there for any who sign into that system, but don't live on their personal desktop (and won't be synced).
Exactly! That messed up my files!
One Drive is a mess for online gaming. One drive backs up your game files and uses bandwidth you want to available to the game. If you have a copy of the game on a laptop things can get confused. You should at least be able to block backup on the folders the game uses.
Thank you so much for explaining how One Drive works! I've been beside myself since I turned on backup thinking it was a good thing, and frantic after my business documents all disappeared! I didn't know what to do about it. I finally found them on One Drive, but when I worked on the documents on OneDrive (large Photoshop files or large MS Word docs), they were very slow and would stop frequently. So I started putting everything I was working on into the downloads folder for safekeeping. Yesterday I ordered a 5TB hard drive to handle my backups and I'm going to straighten out my files and turn off OneDrive forever. All it's done is take up precious time - and a lot of it - to manage my files. I am very disgusted with Microsoft for removing my files from my hard drive!! I thought they would be just backed up - not REMOVED!
I didn't even turn Backup on and Microsoft did it clandestinely. Shame on them, now I have a lot of unnecessary work to do
Uninstall the entire OneDrive app. That's what I just did today.
This is such a bad idea on so many levels. To make matters worse there is no attempt to explain this concept to a user (except by Leo!) Thank you sir - this engineer finally has a grasp.
MS documentation is at best out of date, and at worst vague to the point of wrong in a lot of areas.
I do the same with my NAS. Best solution ever as I cab have my OS up and running very quickly and mirror everything across Mt laptop and desktop. But it's not a backup.
My problem with the one drive, is that it is messing up user settings. It's a nightmare.
The whole point is to confuse people and make them think they need a subscription to use their computer.
If only everyone posting help videos online could be as clear as you. I finally understand how OneDrive works. THANK YOU !
This is probably the best explanation I've ever seen on RUclips. You explained very clearly and precisely, and your speaking pace was slow enough to follow. Plus you showed on screen what is really happening and the consequence of actions Microsoft seem force you to take. Microsoft is not necessarily my friend. I thought I was loosing my mind looking for documents. Now I can create a plan to identify where my docs may exist. I'm afraid of finding out I may have lost documents by turning backup on, then turning it off. I recently had a problem with my hard drive, and the support staff told me they had never seen such a mess.
hold my beer My computer's SSD is such a clusterf*k that I don't even know how to sort it out. I'm a volunteer with RC (Red Cross) which is married to Microsoft so OneDrive comes with. And since RC does NOT issue computers to its volunteers I have to use my own personal computers to do RC work. Now my personal documents are somehow mixed with RC documents. A rat's nest within another rat's nest within another rat's nest! RC has a CIO and I'm convinced his mission is to drive us all crazy.
As I said above Microsoft should be ashamed of themselves.
I agree 💯. I thought I had somehow screwed up all my file s.
OMG Leo. I was totally lost. Best 22 minutes I've spent in the last year. You saved me. You made it so easy, even I understand what's occurring. Thank you, thank you THANK YOU!
Many thanks Leo. My wife accidentally turned on one drive back up on her PC without realising the implications. I was then ‘called in’ to fix it and had no idea what had gone on until I watched your very informative video. Thanks again.
Well done Leo. You are probably the only one explaining this confusing and very invasive application so well on yt.
YOU HAVE NO IDEA how useful this is. I work in an Apple Macintosh environment, but we do have one Windows PC. I watched your video at the end of a long hard day and appreciated your slow deliberate clear explanation - especially as I do not know Windows at all. You have just saved us losing a clients files.
THANK YOU!!!!! I turned off backup thinking I didn't need it and ALL my desktop icons were gone! This was so confusing, but you cleared it up. Thanks again!
There is little to add to what people have already said. You are a hero for providing such a clear explanation of this very confusing issue.
Not being a computer expert, I didn't know how the One Drive hijacked my pictures and documents. I will figure how to shut this off. It has messed with my ability to store pictures or videos and has even locked out my e-mail account. F'n frustrating. I have tried to explain this to my wife and she doesn't have this problem as she uses Google and probably never turned on the cloud backup. Thanks for making this video and helping those of us who just want to store our files locally.
I don't even use the Documents folder. I've never seen the value of piling all of the documents on my computer into a single Windows-created folder, regardless of their content or purpose. My document files are stored in folders created by me -- folders that are named and organized in way that makes sense to me. For example, my resume is stored in a subfolder of my Job Search folder.
But then thats not the point. This is about how confusing their default setting is.
Like you, I don't use any Windows-created folders (other than Desktop folder, of course). All the more reason to just use my own folders.
You can create your own folders under the documents folder, you don't have to dump everything in one folder. There is good reason to use the propper folder if your PC has multiple users with their own logins such as a work environment, as each user gets their own set of document, picture, etc folders that are specific to them. If it is a home PC with one user, then sure put documents wherever.
Thanks Leo, so many videos out there about how amazing onedrive is and how easy it is to setup but you are the first one I have found who explains these pitfalls well and it takes away a lot of confusion! Even though I don’t like the way it is designed knowing how it works is essential if you want to make use of it. And why Microsoft doesn’t explain this better is very strange, the least they could do is give you warnings about the effects of turning the feature on or off so you can understand the consequences. Anyway, super helpful, thanks!
Thanks. Personally I just think they made a super bad design decision and are now unwilling to back away from it. There are SO MANY better solutions. (For example Dropbox will let you do similar, and it's implemented sanely.)
To make money of course.
Great article. So important. I confirm that One Drive is totally invasive : Desktop items also get shifted. I made the mistake of not being aware that O.D was doing what Leo explains. I reacted to a message from MS stating, 'One Drive almost full...react, upgrade'. So I had the instantaneous idea of clearing out O.D by suppressing a lot of items I believed I already had in my local/native/offline workspace. I didn't see the point of having doublons filling up my O.D. Next day I open up my PC and Waooow, my Desktop and all items I had placed there were gone. An empty Desktop. I spent days trying to fathom what had happened with massive research. I finally gathered that One Drive was the culprit. I also learned that removing O.D from the PC in an act of anger is only effective until the next MS update....it is smart enough (A.I driven) to detect and reinstall the darn thing. The only option we are left with is indeed deactivating sync. And constantly checking it is off. Then check what's in the O.D folder locally (in your PC). Leo forgot to inform us in this. Otherwise, bless him for his instructive and very weii edited videos
Because they are preliminarily creating the architecture to where your entire computer activity is controlled by a central source. They will be able to find out all your information, materials, etc, to create a snapshot of you, and if you are doing something that the central source disapproves, they will flag you for further action. It must be emphasized that there will be NO LIMIT as to how the central source responds to interact with you in line with their disapproval. Yes, you can imagine the worst if you like, because to be blunt: THAT IS THEIR GOAL.
yes by forcing unsuspecting people to buy Microsoft 365
Leo you're the king of explaining Microsoft items and apps. Thanks for all your hard work.
There is a far much simpler solution that I recommend, which is to create your own version of the "local" documents folder for anything that you want to store offline. Then you can use the OneDrive Documents, Photos, and Desktop folders for syncing files into the cloud (and more importantly, multiple computers). Any large or private files should go into the local folder directory structure that you have organised yourself.
Most applications will automatically put files and folders into your default "Documents" folder so it can get real messy pretty fast, so having a space that you organise yourself can keep things cleaner and well organised.
Hallelujah Leo. You are my newest HERO. Confused? you betcha, but I will become a monk in silence and watch this video at least 3 more times and read the doc. WOW. You are the ONLY person so far to admit how confusing ONE DRIVE and One Drive Backup and all the rest of the nonsense is. Thank you, fine Sir!
It's good for people to get an understanding of what is going on. Since I frequently use my desktop and a laptop as well, I like OneDrive because it keeps some files that I use and update regularly on both computers in sync. I do not use the backup function as it gets too intrusive (as you explain) and if you know to use the OneDrive folder for things you want on the cloud, it is not necessary. For backup, I have a couple of SSD's that I plug in externally to backup large folders that I don't want at risk.
OMG! That EXPLAINS IT!!! I was so confused with all the multiple seeming duplicate folders and even though I can see where they are by looking at the file properties, It seems like I'm still having problems locating the stupid files. I'm just going to turn it off and manage myself, which is what I've always done before anyway. This causes too much confusion. Thank you for your great explanation on how it works!!
Leo, great explanation of a complex topic. I suspect if you have multiple computers logged into the same MS account and OneDrive Backup enabled on them things can get even more complex - but my head hurts trying to think about it.
If you use multiple computers with OneDrive backup turned on, all files in documents, desktop, and pictures are replicated to ALL your PCs. In my case, I had it turned on on one computer at work, but my company IT turned it on for all computers one day. All 3 computers had a lot of different files on them and not a huge amount of free space. Suddenly, I got warnings about disk space and found that my C drive only had a few hundred megabytes left and it was dropping! I spent a couple hours scrambling to move files back to the c:\users\my.account\documents folder. I moved all my really old files back and only left my current work in the OneDrive folder for backup. That solved my space problem on my C drives on all 3 computers, but there still are issues. My company automatically creates a certain shortcut on everyone's desktop when you log on. It always has the same name. OneDrive doesn't see them as the same, so it creates the shortcuts with numbers added at the end every time I logon. If I don't cleanup, I end up with a hundred or more of these shortcuts on the desktop of all 3 computers. It makes it really difficult to find other shortcuts buried among all the duplicated company shortcuts.
Thanks Leo, this is helpful information for understanding and using OneDrive. I have used OneDrive for years, but not with Backup turned on. I prefer to work in my local Documents folder and move things to the OneDrive folder for manual upload/backup. To facilitate this, I made a custom right click "Send to" link. I have different OneDrive folders, so I simply made corresponding right click "Send To" links pointing to each of the OneDrive folders I want to use. When I finish work at the end of the day, I right click the file I want to back up, and "Send To" to the OneDrive folder I want to use. It uploads to the cloud in the same folder structure. This may not work for everyone, but I've used this method for so long that it's second nature to me to back up, manually, at the end of the day. Thanks for the video!
Hi, sorry finding this so late. And I want to say something for your information. The 'send to' action is completely useless. If you would lose your account you would lose that also. If you don't use sent to and your computer brakes down, just logon your account with whatever repair or new, all your files are there to copy them back eventually. Or start over from your other bu option. Back to normal, so just syncing, you missed up your file, go to OneDrive and get the version you like most copied to your drive and work from there again. They don't tell you, but never backup. Forget the word ever exist.(;wink;) OneDrive does it in ways you can't imagine. Happy syncing!
Not missed up>>>messed up😊
Thank you, Sir Leo, for taking the time to create this video and clarify the feature of OneDrive cloud storage. While I was already familiar with the information you shared, I appreciate your dedication to helping others understand the topic better. Keep up the great work!
A masterful explanation. I turned on One Drive backup and was shocked to find what it does. I'm working thru it, but I appreciate your take on it. Now I know how to turn it off and move the files where I want.
Hey Leo,
Your manner of explaining things is by far the clearest of any on the internet!
Subscribed.
Keep up the good work!
Thank you for this, I work as as an IT Engineer and I have seen these problems first hand
Thank you for a clear and well presented video. I was told that my 5Gb limit had been reached, and I spent hours yesterday evening deleting photos one at a time (I don't know how to to delete them all at once) . And today they were all back! Now I've learnt to stop back up, I don't get nagged any more to buy storage. Cheers!
What's really confusing is when many 3rd party applications' "Save As..." option default to the native Documents folder instead of the Onedrive folder. Later, you go looking for that file and can't find it.
You can't really blame the 3rd party apps for working in a confusing way, when M$ OneDrive has already turned the file system into a confused hierarchy.
@@AlanBarwick The 3rd party app should query (there's a programming feature for that in the Win-API) where the actual location of "Documents" is, and not assume it's "[…]/$username/Documents". That also helps with manually set custom paths and localized names.
Many/most apps don't do that, increasing the level of chaos that Windows/MS already caused. It's a total mess.
Seems to be a growing trend for apps and microsoft to offer 'save' options with no facility to specify where you want them or even tell you where the save will go to.
Firstly, kudos for an extremely well done description of how exactly this all works. Even though I'm an old vet at this, never realized the backup option moved the files over. And it explains why my laptop defaults to cloud documents. I do disagree that it's broken. It operates as one would expect other than the non-moving of files back to where they came from once you shut off the backup. As a programmer, I understand just how onerous a task that would be, and full of pitfalls. I can see why they avoided it.
I do agree they really should have put up some messages detailing on moving the files to the cloud folder, and explained that users might want to move files back to the local documents folder.
It also helps to sell OneDrive storage space beyond the free 5 GB you're given. Good, good. Speaking as a MSFT shareholder ;)
The issue of Backup turning on and starting immediately when you open settings/backup has been vastly improved in Window 11 recently so that it never goes on but itself and explains exactly what is happening when you go into the Backup settings. Great explanation, best I have seen. Thanks.
Thank you a lot, Leo!! I realized too late that my new PC were storing files in the wrong place. You helped me get all those files back onto my local PC.
Thank you Leo, you have done a fantastic job in explaining this confusing system.
A client had O365 E3 and they wanted all laptop users to migrate to OneDrive and that's when I discovered what you just described.
Imagine the confusion among users with the mirror option so the decision was to enable OneDrive Backup for the following reasons:
1. O365 E3 offered 1TB storage.
2. Maximum storage per laptop was 500GB.
3. It's enterprise data so there was no requirement to stop OneDrive backup.
Thanks again.
Although I do have OneDrive (as part of Microsoft 365), I stopped using it's Backup a long time ago for the very reasons you've pointed out. I prefer to manually copy files, pics, etc., from my PC over to OneDrive as necessary. Google Drive works better for me as it works in conjunction with my native folders (Docs, Music, etc.).
Thank you soooo much for explaining this in such great detail and showing the outcomes of what happens when you do XYZ. I've been searching for months how to get this evasive feature of One Drive turned off with no solid solutions that stick. I did not purchase MS 365. I purchased Windows 11 Pro over a year ago. And at one point it pushed me into MS 365 and everything into cloud back in Nov 2022 during one of their lovely updates. Then my own programs on Windows 11 Pro stopped working, because MS 365 was forcing me to purchase a subscription to something I already own, to access my files now in the cloud. It's been a total nightmare. Thank you for the great work you do. Much appreciated.
Very useful. Also may help to rename the 'native' Documents folder on your PC. Plus, before turning off backup, drag a copy of the Onedrive folder to your PC or external drive.
I have been using this PC for years and I have never used the windows backup. Windows did and update and turned on backup without any involvement by me. I thought I lost all my personal files. Thanks to you, I know how to undo this mess. I am quite unhappy with Microsoft!
I moved my Documents, and some other system folders into OneDrive years ago, and do the same with each new PC, this means there is no second "Documents" folder. The advantage is I have copies of documents on which ever PC (desktop, laptop, tablet) I use, providing they have Internet connections to upload and download between sessions. I am considering adding a local NAS sync to the desktop.
One of my main beefs with Windows is its obfuscation of folder names. Two different folders have the same paths. Delightful!
Agreed! And good luck trying to figure out where you are when you click on a folder named Documents.
What an excellent explanation and demo. I was confused with what's been going on with my files but now it's crystal clear, thanks a lot Leo ! Subbed
Hi Leo;
This lesson on One Drive was absolutely one of your very best if not THE best.
And I follow you every day.
Thank you.
Is there a chance that you may have another similar type presentation on how to completely eradicate OneDrive from a computer and make sure that ALL MY FILES are on my local machine (ready to back them up my way, of course) and delete them ALL from OneDrive?
I look foreword to that and I thank you in advance.
Sincerely
Biagio Bisignano ❤️👍
I would love to know that as well!
Thank you so much Leo, I thought I knew where I was up to, but after a minor problem with my PC, I reset the PC, safe in the knowledge my Manual Backup would be preserved, as would my Offline Backup, but the One Drive was a little hazy. Then I found the 1 TB HDD that I bought to speed up the PC, was so topped out with files from my One Drive, I had to really think, how did I de-link it before???? This description is very comprehensive. I work as a Technical Analyst Myself, so I know how tricky explaining complex tech can be and you have de-mystified it for me and (Probably millions ) of other people.
I'll be subscribing to your site, in the hopes of some other golden nuggets of information 🙂
Finally, a clear explanation of what has been going on with my OneDrive. I had been trying to figure it out for a long time. Thank you.
When using backup in the past it meant saving files to another file or external hard drive, not deleting files in the original folder. Then to have something like One Drive to do this without asking and demanding one to buy more space is outrageous. This gives me serious thought to loose windows and choose Apple or Linux.
The main faux pas here is that enabling OneDrive backup does not do what is generally understood as a backup. It does a move, not a copy, of your local files to the cloud! 😮
I do use OneDrive, but manually, not via the backup feature. I also accumulated 40GB free over the years, from the days when it was new and MS was dishing out additional free space for doing certain things.
Agreed. Same here.
I clicked on this video because I always backup my PC. Mostly to one hard disk. However you are talking about Microsoft One Drive, which I have always avoided because I do want my personal files to be floating around in the cloud. I just did a re-install of windows on my laptop and One Drive started popping up all over again. So glad I watched this!! You explained it very well. I understand it perfectly!. I am now a subscriber to your channel. I can't wait to go through all of your previous videos and also see what you have coming! Thanks Leo!
Thanks so much Leo. Been totally confused over this mainly because at work, all our computers appear to have one drive backup on by default, and default saves in all our MS Office programes have been to the one drive folder. Now I finally have some idea what is going on and can check it out with our IT guy. Primo
I've been struggling with file locations, versions, and One Drive on several Windows machines at home. This clarified how it all works so now I can make a conscious decision on how to manage files and where to find them exactly. Thank you!
Thanks Leo, very clear explanation. I indeed was totally confused with my work laptop when I tried to stop backing up my personal files and and folders on corporate onedrive and instead use for them a separate personal backup service with e-drive that is also much more simple to manage and navigate.
Well done for this. I have been confusing myself for a long time with how this all fits together. I still have some Apps which appear to be writing directly to my "native" (/documents) folder as they appear to have created folders in there which are (obviously) not getting backed up. Most day-to-day users are not going to be aware/bothered by any of this.... you'd think a company with the resources of Microsoft could actually do this more sensbily ! 🙄🤷♂
Excellent video Leo! You are so right on all of your comments especially how confusing this One Drive nonsense is. I’ve been working with computers for over 40 years, thus have a lot of experience in the field, and this new automatic Microsoft set-up had me chasing my tail wondering just where the hell my files really are - especially when I started exploring Windows 11. I finally figured it out, and only wish I had seen your video earlier. You did a magnificent job. Now, don’t be surprised if someday there is a class action lawsuit against Microsoft for doping users into unwittingly having their documents in the cloud for any hacker to access. Too bad we can’t impeach Bill Gates for high crimes and misdemeanors. Thanks again.
Thanks for a great video. I could not figure out why onedrive kept kidnapping my files. While OneDrive saved me from a hard disc crash once, I like the idea of a backup. But I also want to first store my files on my local machine. Definitely Big Brother stuff!
Thanks for the easy-to-understand explanation Leo. I've just purchased a new laptop, turned on OneDrive backup then spent an hour trying to work out what the heck was going on. I got there in the end but your explanation has confirmed my understanding. I'm even more tempted to turn automatic backup off and do it manually, partly because MS will inevitably make future changes and cause further confusion. I'll just manage my native and OneDrive documents folder personally and know what's going on. Thanks again!
I've been reading Leo's articles for many years. His explanations are always clear, easily understood.
A clear and easy to understand explanation of the One Drive process. Very easy to follow, thanks to your teaching skills. Thanks, Leo!
I got switched to backup without realizing it would change anything and was confused as hell as to what happened. I have been doing computers professionally since Windows 3.1, and I can't remember having a more irritating experience than when I had to figure out what was going on. Searching for help was infuriating and I couldn't find anything among irrelevant search results. I had to figure all this out for myself and still am flabbergasted that anyone at Microsoft would think doing it this way was a good idea. Spending increasing proportion of my time on Linux now.
Very helpful. I knew that I wasn't on top of the OneDrive backup but didn't have time to try to work it out. You have clarified everything. Thank you!
Thanks for the excellent explanation. I don't mind using OneDrive as a standalone cloud service, but I won't tolerate its aggressive and confusing file moving and syncing. It has wasted many hours of my time.
I came across this "useful feature" when I bought a new Win10 laptop a couple of years ago. I created a shortcut called "Documents on PC" to stop me getting confused! Thanks Leo for the very clear explanation.
Leo, very good explanation.
I will never use OneDrive, or any 3rd party data storage service, because they can (and very likely do) scan and / or index your uploaded files and build a profile on you.
I do not share my files with complete strangers -- and the personnel at Microsoft are complete strangers.
If I should ever become a person of interest, I lay 100 to 1 odds that Microsoft (and all the other 3rd party data storage services) will have all of my uploaded data, even data I deleted years ago. Whatever anyone uploads will forever remain on their servers.
The only two exceptions where I might use a 3rd party data storage service are:
1) If I were to encrypt my files, locally, before uploading them.
2) If I want to have convenient access to those files, across different devices, and those files have no privacy or security tie.
Your video made it clear on what takes place, and is very helpful.
Files on your OneDrive are very unlikely to be spied on by Microsoft and used to profile you. That is because OneDrive is a PAID service. You purchase office subscription, which gives you 1TB of storage.
Typically, if the product is free, YOU are the product and your data is collected. So if you use Outlook or Gmail for free, your files are likely to be spied on because the advertising supports those services
On the other hand, because YOU bear the costs for OneDrive, files stored there are not used for advertising or profiling you.
Large enterprises pay for OneDrive storage. They would never do this if Microsoft were spying on their trade secrets.
May Allah (S.W.T.) guide you to Islam and bestow upon you His Blessings; Ameen.
@@NazmusLabs Just because you pay Microsoft for the storage, does not mean that Microsoft decides to not cash in all the more via profiling.
As to large enterprises paying for storage:
Large companies have had major data breaches. They have had user information, including passwords, published on the dark web.
If passwords are properly stored, it is impossible for anyone to reveal them. Even the employees of the company cannot reveal the passwords, when they are stored properly.
Ergo, the size of the company does not dictate the competence of their information technology staff.
Also, any company that uploads their trade secrets to a cloud service will likely do so only after encrypting it; making it useless to anyone without the decryption keys.
If you upload anything to complete strangers that can wreck your life, you are highly irresponsible.
Thank you Leo!! What a mess. Add to it the fact that I use iDrive as a backup, and for awhile I got iDrive and OneDrive confused. And I'm discovering that iDrive will NOT back up files that are in OneDrive. I started using OneDrive so I could easily access documents that I created on my laptop, but then had to work on from my tablet when my laptop was in for repairs. Somehow I couldn't easily access the docs from iDrive using my tablet, but could access them from OneDrive using my tablet. Now I need to figure out what to do!
Thanks Leo. You just saved me a day of waiting for my files to upload because I thought I’d lost them. Ended up buying more storage on one drive so I didn’t lose anything. Learnt a lot. Thank you.😊
Very nice explanation. Another big problem with OneDrive and MS "backup" is that Synchronization or Mirroring IS NOT BACKUP. What happens if you accidentally delete or make a bad change to a file? This change is immediately mirrored to OneDrive. You do not have any old copies of the file. A real backup contains your old files so that you can recover something that you've messed up. Mirroring is fine, but it is not backup.
Agree, OneDrive is not backup. (askleo.com/is-onedrive-a-backup/) But do check to see if your OneDrive online at onedrive.com has a recycle bin. You can often recover accidental changes and deletions that way.
Beautifully explained, Leo.
I'd figured most of it out myself during a fun evening after I'd turned on OneDrive's backup feature and then couldn't open my Outlook because it couldn't find my Outlok.pst file.
You gusessed it. The Outlook folder is embedded within the Documents folder which OneDribe backup had moved. You'd think Microfoft's OnedDrive would tell Microsoft's Outlook where it had moved the folder, but no...
As you can see OneDrive moved your file from the local documents folder to the onedrive folder. People might be confused om where all their documents went that were in their local documents folder
Thanks Leo, very well explained. I now have much more understanding of what was a mysterious black box to me. Also, the pace of your delivery is spot on. Excellent.
Thank you so much. I was very confused by this and couldn't find what I thought I had. Now I've turned off synch and moved everything back to local. Thanks again.
Some time ago I did some experimentation that basically reproduced these steps in order to figure out how OneDrive worked. Once I got the gist of it, I turned off backup, moved my files out of the local OneDrive folder into my Sync local folder, and I only use OneDrive for the few files I need for my customers who want it. Sync is a bit slower due to encryption, but the zero-based knowledge Sync uses is worth it to me. The result is a more secure and private version of OneDrive without the hassle of AutoSave in OneDrive. AutoSave is one of the worst features ever.
Great explanations,slowly, clearly, i was seeking for these information for long time. Brilliant!
I didn’t realise OneDrive backup did this - got it now, backup is off! Thanks Leo
So this is basically Microsoft copying Apple’s mess of an implementation of iCloud backup, but it’s still more intuitive than the even bigger mess that is CloudStorage on the Mac (which OneDrive now uses, too). Hey, at least file and folder labels and QuickLook are finally supported again, but the fact that the files’ path is obfuscated somewhere deep inside the Library folder, a system folder inaccessible by default, is completely insane.
Excellent video and very clear explanation of what is going on with OneDrive. Thanks Leo!
Even more confusing: the Documents folder is a Known Folder, meaning that users can freely change its location and apps that are written properly will still find it because Windows knows where it is. However, when OneDrive backup is enabled, weird and confusing things can happen if you try to take advantage of this feature by moving the Documents folder out of the OneDrive folder. You have to explicitly get OneDrive to relinquish it before you can use the feature as intended. I'm not sure why Microsoft made OneDrive work this way instead of just relying on the existing Known Folder moving functionality that Windows has supported for years. You can move Known Folders freely in and out of other cloud sync client folders like Google Drive and DropBox, but OneDrive has this confusing procedure you have to follow.
Nice point! IHO MS haven't understand it's own products since Windows XP.
Excellent explanation, wish I'd seen it earlier. I have spent a huge amount of time trying to untangle the mess that onedrive made of my new laptop.
You would not believe how hard I connect with this video you have made !
I HATE _trying_ to explain the multiple Documents folders to Customers, especially those who don't know much about how folders and subfolders work.
I also learned something new, I didn't know that the Shortcut to the "original/native" Documents folder could be restored by turning off OneDrive Backup for the Documents folder.
So in future, I know to turn off the OneDrive backup, before I uninstall it.
Wouldn't it have to be installed in order to turn the backup off? I'm interested because I'll be setting up a new computer soon & want to make sure it's off.
@@nancyfay6842 Yes, OneDrive would have to be installed in order to turn Backup off. I think OneDrive is already installed with a Clean Install of Windows 11, but I don't think Backup is immediately on. Microsoft will present you with trick (in my opinion) questions to entice you to switch Backup on.
thank you so much for this video. The exact thing happened to me. I "lost" all my files. Then when I tried to put them back on my computer they got all screwed up. Luckily I had backed up most things to my external hard drive. I had to re-format my brand new laptop. The I-T guy at my job helped me "uninstall" OneDrive. I was so upset I could not sleep for a week. Your description was spot on and makes me realize I wasn't crazy!!
This information is so-o valuable. Thank you. I've been extremely concerned about so many 'identical' folders that my confusion inhibited good data management. Thank you, again.
Great explanation. I have 4 computers with 4 different desktops. When I started using onedrive it started merging all of the desktops into one single desktop. A total mess that I have never been able to correct things.
Yes, I was very confused. Especially since OneDrive and OneDrive backup was running since I first brought up this PC, and nothing in that first startup explained what would be going on and what the different doc folders were all about. And I had watched four other YT videos about OneDrive but was still confused. Only after watching your/this video could I understand. I don't like how it works, but at least I understand what's going on. Thank you!
The best explanation I've seen regarding OneDrive backup! Nice job, Leo!
This problem is extremely annoying and sometimes scary. I hope onedrive is just onedrive not taking our local file/holder onto onedrive cloud. thank you for explaining this
Great vid. Here's what I've been doing for years with the similar Dropbox configuration: I create and edit all my documents in my local documets folder, then I use a great little lightweight app called synctime to COPY via PUSH (not optionally sync) new/updated documents into the "sync'd" Dropbox folder which then instantly uploads to the cloud. So I have my native docs in the native documents folder which can't be messed up by a bad sync, and I have a mirror copy of them in the Dropbox folder along with a "backup" in DB cloud. Yes, it uses twice the space, but space is cheap and I like having my documents insulated.
Thanks much Leo for explaining it very well it’s crystal clear. One drive messed up my folders and files got stuck into it looking where my files had been. So confusing the paths I used to see in my local drive were in disarray and just wanted them all back.
Excellent content. I've been using Windows since the late 80s and I've never understood what onedrive was doing or why. All I've ever wanted it to do was act as an addition storage drive that I could use to manually make backups of directories and files. Dropbox is a much better cloud storage utility but as you pointed out, if you have O365, you get a TB of onedrive.
Very good video. I'm fairly competent at using OneDrive, though I have long been confused by the dual "Documents" folder situation. I haven't been able to figure out how my system ended up with duplicate folders. Thanks to your video, the light bulb has finally been turned on for me. I feel like I finally get it. Yeah!! I do have OneDrive backup turned on. The only anomaly for me is that when I open OneDrive settings and look at the setting for backup, it shows that I have zero bytes backed up to OneDrive. However, looking online at my OneDrive cloud, it says I have over 50GB stored there. Go figure. Yet another OneDrive mystery. At any rate, thanks for this video. I now have one less item to be confused about.
I believe that 0 bytes refers to files on OneDrive but not stored locally.
It is possible to do this by right-clicking a file and clicking "Free up space". The file is then deleted from your local drive but still on OneDrive.
Another issue I have seen with OD is the classic Microsoft issue of path length limitation, which is an issue for people who love long filenames and deep nested subdirectories.
Also, I believe large files will not always sync up to the cloud. So it's possible that not everything is getting synced (watch for the subtle red "X" in the system tray or in file explorer.
Yes, large video files not efficient use of storage for marketing purposes.
Hi Leo - fantastic video and just what I was looking for - and you cleared up the doubt I was having in terms of my own preference of managing 'native' Documents separately to OneDrive Documents.
I do believe there are certain situations / arguments for using the BACKUP functionality (e.g. for basic / low volume users who can rest assured that their files are being backed up automatically) but the key point is that you have highlighted the downsides of 'watch outs' for such an approach.
Great Job! Thank you.
I'm so angry with OneDrive. When it asked me to backup my desktop files, I'd figured it'd just store everything as a copy, as the word BACKUP would mean such. At no point was it explained to me that it would basically MOVE all my files to a different directory, one that's not even local on my system (OneDrive). This is so invasive. No software should move or delete anything without the explicit permission from the user. Now I have a bunch of broken links because they no longer point to the correct locations. I wish I knew all this beforehand.
Great Video!!!!
I spend hours explaining to trainees how to use OneDrive as part of programming trainings. OneDrive frequently does damage because through its backup fault (not a feature), and unsuspecting users often repeat the mistake of turning it on again.
Sometime files are lost permanently, when you "unlink this PC" and start using Onedrive from another account on the same machine (like when the irreparable bug occurs that causes the "Start" Button stopped working!). I wish there were a way to recover the lost files, but Microsoft Technical Support does not have (or does not provide) a way to restore files that have the dreaded "X" icon on them. Anyway, thanks for the videos on OneDrive. Very helpful.
Been using OneDrive since it was Sky Drive. I only use the Document folder for temp file and everything works great. Drop Box is even more confusing to me so I will continue to use OneDrive I love it. Never used the Backup feature. Thanks for the video I loved your easy information.
Thanks for putting this out. Everytime I install Windows the 1st thing I do is Disable One Drive, then I uninstall it, then I delete it's folder off my system. I like to be in control and not have my stuff out in the cloud !
This is such an excellent explanation. I was totally confused by what OneDrive backup was doing to my files and you made it very clear. Good job ... thank you!
Most Windows users should be using O365 with 1TB of OneDrive storage, meaning you can access your files from any device. I have never used the OG native shortcuts. Maybe because I’m a Mac user and only use Windows for work.
Thank you for making this clear. II also have a three document folders the native Documents, OneDrive Documents and a third labelled my name. I unlinked OneDrive and activated the navigation tree (using a RUclips), so I could see if folders had subfolders. I was in such a mess I had to double check I was saving in the correct folder. I think Microsoft also saves the location the Thunderbird folder in two places because I deleted it, before re-installing Thunderbird, but it installed as previously., without having pasted it back! Thank you also for those red arrows - I have so much trouble finding the changes in some RUclipss.🥰
Thank you for this.
OneDrive should not be used by anyone who does not have a FULL UNDERSTANDING of what it is.
It is as bad as Siemens Fujitsu Horizon if you don't understand it.
On a new pc I got so annoyed with onedrive giving me constant notifications and red crosses on files that I turned it off... and my entire desktop and docs vanished and got sucked into the onedrive folder leaving me with the shortcut.
Grateful that this video explains why. Unbeleiveably annoying that I have to put it all back myself (I have a cluttered desktop for a functional quick-access reasons), it's crazy that you can't reverse that action, and the 'Everything will be deleted' notifications are pretty sleazy imo
Thanks Leo, you have finally given me the awswer to where 4000 of my photos went after I changed the back up settings in my Samsung Gallery aka (OneDrive). I didn't know there was a difference between backup and mirror and I found out the hard way. You're very kind to at least explain what has happened and I thank you.
This is a terrific explanation of OneDrive and OneDrive Backup! I seldom take the time to comment but I have been confused by this for a long time, and especially by Microsoft's insistence to turn Backup on, so that my newfound understanding deserves more than just a thumbs up. If you want to understand where your files are stored--and how they might "disappear" by accident--this video will probably answer your questions. It did for me. Thanks
Thank you. You've really opened my eyes. I store my data on a separate hard drive and I was wondering why it never synced in one cloud, especially when I add a new banking document. I think this stinks, and, as you say, I'll have to backup manually from now on. How tedious! Not my idea of "syncing" at all.
What a fantastic video to explain why I've been going out of my mind - trying to transfer files from an old PC (Windows10) over to another PC Windows11) via a LAN connection. I've been watching freshly moved files from Documents to Documents disappear and reappear on the new machine in the Local OneDrive folder. I have wasted a full day fiddling with this. This video provided the answers as to what the #$%@ is going on. Bravo Leo! Amazingly helpful!!! QUESTION: If I turn off OneDrive Backup, can I count on it Staying Turned OFF? Will Microsoft turn it On with a subsequent 'Update'? For the first time in my life, I'm considering a drastic move to iOS. Crazy. BTW, I believe it was confusing for Microsoft to use the word itself; 'OneDrive', in the local path. The word, 'Drive' makes one think of a physical hard drive out in cloudspace - not a local path thing. This whole mess has been a constant source of vertigo. Again, thanks for helping us understand what's happening.
I've been using OneDrive at work and have been wondering what the heck was going on. This video was exactly the information that I needed. Thanks! Oh, and I will be turning the backup off and managing manually, as suggested.
I've been looking for this kind of explanation for a long time. Thanks !