One Drive taking up local storage space

[DavidZ]

With the release of Win 10, Microsoft totally changed the way Onedrive works Now you selectively sync what you want to see from onedrive to your pc and you cannot access cloud only copies. This is different than 8.x where you could see everything and selectively sync what you wanted on your pc.

So, let's say I have a file on my SP4 named ABC.doc. Are you saying that there's a OneDrive folder on my local hard drive that contains a copy of ABC.doc and, therefore, I have 2 copies of ABC.doc on my SP4? If so, why is the extra copy necessary?

 

[bluegrass]

Right now I'm thinking the only solution is to unlink One Drive with the Surface and just upload everything onto the web version of One Drive. What do you think? It kind of defeats the purpose of cloud storage if I have to save everything locally, esp given the disparity in size (128 local vs 1 TB cloud).

I've only had this for about two or three weeks and when I checked my storage, I couldn't believe it filled up to almost full until I realize it was One Drive's fault.

The SD card might be a good idea for now. I only have a 64 GB microsd but it's not bad. Is there a guide out there for redirecting one drive to SD?

It sounds like you're saying that OneDrive is adding files to your Surface. It shouldn't be adding any files to your Surface. You just pick and choose what you want to copy to OneDrive so that they are backed up and available to share with others or just to be available on any other computers you might have including your phone.

 

[bluegrass]

I still don't get it.

I thought that OneDrive make an extra copy of your local files in the cloud. How does a cloud copy of your local files take up space on your local hard drive?

It doesn't David. It also doesn't just copy all your files from the Surface to the OneDrive cloud, it only copies and than synchronizes files that you designate to be OneDrive files.

 

[DavidZ]

It sounds like you're saying that OneDrive is adding files to your Surface. It shouldn't be adding any files to your Surface. You just pick and choose what you want to copy to OneDrive so that they are backed up and available to share with others or just to be available on any other computers you might have including your phone.

That's what I thought, too.

But it seems like a lot of people around here are saying that it puts a second copy of the files you select on your SP4 and also a copy in the cloud to use as you said.

 

[Philtastic]

That's what I thought, too.

But it seems like a lot of people around here are saying that it puts a second copy of the files you select on your SP4 and also a copy in the cloud to use as you said.

Here is exactly how it works:

You have file ABC.doc in your Documents folder on your SP4. OneDrive doesn't touch this.
Now, you want this file backed up in the cloud so you go to OneDrive on your web browser and upload the file there into a folder called "Docs". Now you have a copy on both your SP4 in your Documents folder as well as in your OneDrive online storage in the folder Docs.
You have selected that your OneDrive folder Docs will be synced to your SP4. It will now download everything in that online Docs folder to a new local OneDrive folder called Docs. Now you have 3 copies of the file, one local in your Documents folder, one online in your OneDrive Docs folder, and a new local copy in your local OneDrive Docs folder which is a copy of your online Docs folder.

If you want to avoid having duplicate files on your SP4, you need to either exclusively use your local synchronized OneDrive folders for saving these files OR you stop automatically syncing these folders on your SP4 and only manually upload them through the website.

 

[DavidZ]

Here is exactly how it works:

You have file ABC.doc in your Documents folder on your SP4. OneDrive doesn't touch this.
Now, you want this file backed up in the cloud so you go to OneDrive on your web browser and upload the file there into a folder called "Docs". Now you have a copy on both your SP4 in your Documents folder as well as in your OneDrive online storage in the folder Docs.
You have selected that your OneDrive folder Docs will be synced to your SP4. It will now download everything in that online Docs folder to a new local OneDrive folder called Docs. Now you have 3 copies of the file, one local in your Documents folder, one online in your OneDrive Docs folder, and a new local copy in your local OneDrive Docs folder which is a copy of your online Docs folder.

If you want to avoid having duplicate files on your SP4, you need to either exclusively use your local synchronized OneDrive folders for saving these files OR you stop automatically syncing these folders on your SP4 and only manually upload them through the website.

OK, thanks. Now I get it. So, basically, if you use it smartly, you don't have duplicate files on your SP4.

Since I use my SP4 exclusively for travel and recreation, I only have a few small files on it. And I don't use OneDrive, at least not intentionally. But it's nice to be able to understand the discussion in this thread. and how OneDrive works.

 

[ramiss]

Have you tried the OneDrive Windows App (app not program)? I haven't, but I assume it acts like any other drive share phone app, that lets you upload and download/view, but doesn't sync with a local folder.

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