OneDrive - Another over complicated product from Microsoft?

f14tomcat said:

This is not intended to stir up a debate on any type of Cloud storage, but there may be a misconception of the purpose of OneDrive. It is not, and never was, intended to be a System backup tool. It was designed and implemented to be a file sharing service, nothing more. Sharing across any and all devices associated with the same MS account.

Absolutely totally and utterly agree, and it's this lack of understanding of the purpose/intention of OneDrive - and consequently it's "misuse" - that causes all sorts of problems which leads to ... "worst program in the world".

Just like any other software/program, if users try to use it for any other purpose than intended of course it's going to result in grief.
A few basics ...
- don't save anything direct to OneDrive
- don't put user folders in OneDrive
- create a separate OneDrive folder, outside any user folder
- only copy files to OneDrive, don't Save to directly

I've OneDrive setup and use it seemlessly. It's a godsend!

Steps ....
- close OneDrive. Don't have it running while setting up
- if you're redirecting your user folders to an area other than C:\Users\{username}, create a separate folder (or partitioned drive) and call it OneDrive (or Wheelbarrow! if you want to)
- set up a backup program (I use SyncBackFree) to copy files from required sources into OneDrive. In my case, I copy Documents folder and Pictures Folder to the OneDrive folder/drive.

Open OneDrive and log in. Redirect OneDrive from the default C:\Users\{username}\onedrive to the new folder. Synching will start immediately.

Run the backup program manually periodically, and/or set it up to run automatically whenever required.

Nothing wrong with OneDrive if it's set up and used properly.

1TB storage space "free" with Office 365.

To stop OneDrive running at startup, Task Manager > Startup tab > select OneDrive > disable.

f14tomcat said:

This is not intended to stir up a debate on any type of Cloud storage, but there may be a misconception of the purpose of OneDrive. It is not, and never was, intended to be a System backup tool. It was designed and implemented to be a file sharing service, nothing more. Sharing across any and all devices associated with the same MS account.

Simple questions: What is OneDrive? Why should you use it? | Digital Citizen

Hi there

What's the good of any file sharing system - even between your own devices - if it's complicated to use and doesn't seem fit for purpose.

This wasn't a debate about Cloud Storage in general but ANY system that stores data away from your computer is in fact Cloud storage and as such it should operate correctly and without any fuss.

As for backup -- since the purpose is to be able to SHARE files why shouldn't a backup file be treated just like any other "Data" file.

OK backing up a Windows 45 GB image to the cloud wouldn't be my choice for all sorts of reasons but if people want to do it and have the facilities (Internet bandwidth, speed, file storage capacity available etc) that's their choice.

If and when Google Disk starts dishing out loads of large amounts of storage on its servers then backup on these becomes feasable.

In any case Google Drive (whatever one might think of Google) works far better than one drive and for those that currently have problems with one drive IMO would be better turning off one drive and using Google drive instead.

Cheers
jimbo

jimbo45 said:

What's the good of any file sharing system - even between your own devices - if it's complicated to use and doesn't seem fit for purpose.

I don't see it as complicated at all. Maybe it's because I have used Dropbox for years and it works the same.

OneDrive works great. We use OneDrive for Business at work, and I use OneDrive at home. So, I have access to my files from my computers as well as from a web browser. I can choose whether I want the files on my PC's or just in the cloud, and each computer can be different.

Since I already purchase Office 365, I get 1 TB for myself, 1TB for my wife, 1TB for my daughter, 1TB for my son, 1TB for my dad and 1TB that is going unused at the moment. This is all for $99 a year. Everybody in my family has their cell phone setup to automatically backup all pictures to their onedrive account. So if a phone is lost, broken, etc...we have backup copies of the pictures.

Cloud storage can be seen as a type of backup, if you set expectations properly. For example, you have 5GB of files on your laptop and those 5GB's of files are in the cloud. Your laptop is stolen. Great news, you still have your files. Get a new PC and sync the files back down. Also, if you delete a file locally and it's permanently gone, you still have the previous versions available in the cloud. This can be seen as a backup.

pparks1 said:

I don't see it as complicated at all. Maybe it's because I have used Dropbox for years and it works the same.

OneDrive works great. We use OneDrive for Business at work, and I use OneDrive at home. So, I have access to my files from my computers as well as from a web browser. I can choose whether I want the files on my PC's or just in the cloud, and each computer can be different.

Since I already purchase Office 365, I get 1 TB for myself, 1TB for my wife, 1TB for my daughter, 1TB for my son, 1TB for my dad and 1TB that is going unused at the moment. This is all for $99 a year. Everybody in my family has their cell phone setup to automatically backup all pictures to their onedrive account. So if a phone is lost, broken, etc...we have backup copies of the pictures.

Cloud storage can be seen as a type of backup, if you set expectations properly. For example, you have 5GB of files on your laptop and those 5GB's of files are in the cloud. Your laptop is stolen. Great news, you still have your files. Get a new PC and sync the files back down. Also, if you delete a file locally and it's permanently gone, you still have the previous versions available in the cloud. This can be seen as a backup.

Hi folks

I'm merely saying if it doesn't seem to be as simple as it should be then use an alternate -- Google Drive IMO works fine --- the other limitation of One Drive means that you have to have an Ms Account -- some might want that or some might not.

It's all about CHOICE -- thank goodness there's plenty out there -- but of course that has its own problems in that the more choices one has the harder it becomes to decide on what's really best.

I remember years ago wandering as a 17 year old (gosh was I ever that Young !!!) on my first visit to the USA when I went to LA and went to a supermarket (the size of which was probably bigger than my entire home town !!! - at least back then) and was presented with about 434 different choices of Salad Lettuce !!! -- before that I thought there were probably only about 3 on the entire planet !! -- to say nothing of similar vast choices for almost any other lot of Fruit, Veg, Meat etc that you could ever think of.

Whether these places need to supply that quantity of choice probably is a Market decision but consumers can get really fazed if they aren't used to making those sorts of decisions based on flimsy evidence of what's best --especially with the instant Social media comments !!

Cheers
jimbo

idgat said:

Just like any other software/program, if users try to use it for any other purpose than intended of course it's going to result in grief.
A few basics ...
- don't save anything direct to OneDrive
- don't put user folders in OneDrive
- create a separate OneDrive folder, outside any user folder
- only copy files to OneDrive, don't Save to directly
I've OneDrive setup and use it seemlessly. It's a godsend!

Steps ....
- close OneDrive. Don't have it running while setting up
- if you're redirecting your user folders to an area other than C:\Users\{username}, create a separate folder (or partitioned drive) and call it OneDrive (or Wheelbarrow! if you want to)
- set up a backup program (I use SyncBackFree) to copy files from required sources into OneDrive. In my case, I copy Documents folder and Pictures Folder to the OneDrive folder/drive.
Open OneDrive and log in. Redirect OneDrive from the default C:\Users\{username}\onedrive to the new folder. Synching will start immediately.
Run the backup program manually periodically, and/or set it up to run automatically whenever required.

So, are you saying you have TWO copies of files on your PC; one in a work folder and another in a different (OneDrive) folder and that you use a 3rd party backup tool to copy data from the work folder to the OneDrive folder (on your PC) and then OneDrive "Syncs" this local OneDrive folder to the cloud?

That's what I understand from your post and this definitely seems like overkill if that is the case.

milleniumaire said:

So, with OneDrive, if I don't have an internet connection, does that mean I can't access my data in the cloud, or does OneDrive automatically download all cloud data and store local copies of it (assuming it can get an internet connection to do this)?

Ummm, but if you don't have internet, you don't have access to *A*N*Y* cloud storage. Why single out OneDrive?

- - - Updated - - -

milleniumaire said:

So, are you saying you have TWO copies of files on your PC; one in a work folder and another in a different (OneDrive) folder and that you use a 3rd party backup tool to copy data from the work folder to the OneDrive folder (on your PC) and then OneDrive "Syncs" this local OneDrive folder to the cloud?

That's what I understand from your post and this definitely seems like overkill if that is the case.

Hardly overkill. Filers/folders in OneDrive are only those I would want to share between devices/locations. All automated, no onerous responsibilities.

What price convenience?

The crux of this problem is lack of understanding ... OneDrive (and Google and any similar other online "cloud" service) is *N*O*T* a (substitute for) backup system, that's reserved for dedicated off-site services (seen plenty of tears where OneDrive - and Google Drive! - was used as either sole storage space or even sole backup, and things went pear-shaped).

Simple solution, if you don't understand how to use it, and/or don't like it, don't use it. Just like most of the Microsoft bloatware that comes with Windows 10, just because it's there doesn't mean it has to be used to make the system work (seen plenty of instances where ... "but it came with Windows so I thought I'd try it (e.g. Bitlocker). Now I can't open my files...").

Most of the bloatware can be removed (if not, then disabled).

sygnus21 said:

Care to explain why "it sucked"???
I use is all the time without issue and find it rather convenient. Easy, flawless, and it just works.

My experience was just the opposite. It just failed time after time after time.

I, too, wanted it for backup. So I'd try to push a file. Anything large than a few MB would fail. Try again. Fail.

I had enough. I tried Google Drive. It just works.

It's odd how two experiences can be so opposite.