Jim1938

When I move (upload) pictures to One Drive, they also take up room on my relatively small SSD internal drive. Is this the way all cloud storage devices work or is it just with One Drive. It seems to me that the limiting factor is the 256 Gb of my internal device and not the 1 Tb of my One Drive storage. Am I missing something?

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

I use One Drive also.
If you are using One Drive upload command, it doesn't erase (move) the images on the source drive, it uploads a copy, leaving the original on the source drive.
(Move and upload are different functions.)

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

If they're on OneDrive, do you want to take a chance and remove them from your SSD? Storage in the Cloud is like real life clouds: here today, gone tomorrow. Cloud storage is supposed to be in case of a drive or computer failure, but what about a Cloud failure? I store everything important on external drives.

Jim1938

I also use an external drive for backup but wanted to get more familiar with cloud storage.

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

I banged my head against the wall trying to use OneDrive as simply cloud storage, with NO syncing to my computer hard drive (the OneDrive folder in Documents). Went round and round with MS OneDrive support. I really wanted to make use of the 1 TB. of OneDrive storage I get with my Office 365 subscription, having it be accessible on any of my computers from anywhere.... But alas, I finally gave up, and stopped using OneDrive.

Apparently it is not (unless MS changes OneDrive :-)) possible to separate your OneDrive cloud storage from your computer. No matter what settings you try in OneDrive configuration, it will always want to sync with the computer, which uses your local hard drive space. I've seen lots of complaints about this online.

You can disable OneDrive, and you can actually uninstall it completely to get it out of your hair.

Too bad it has to be this way. I can use Google Drive but it does not begin to approach the space available to me with the OneDrive I'm entitled to, even with the paid storage upgrades..

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

I personally would not use One Drive as a disaster backup.
I only use it for storing things for others to have access.
I use Carbonite for backing up, unlimited for one computer and all automatic.

gtilford Loc: Woodstock, Ontario, Canada

So the way I have found to do this I have made one folder(mine is called check) on my pc that is linked to onedrive. I place the files I wish to move into it, I then open up onedrive on the pc in my browser (I use chrome), I move the files that I put into that folder around to whichever folder I want them to be in thru the browser. The the files are never kept in that folder it remains empty almost all the time,hence using virtually no space on my hard drive. But if I want to share something to my other devices(ie phone) which have onedrive installed they still have access to all my onedrive folders. If it is on another pc, I do the same thing set up a check folder on the pc then access onedrive thru the browser.

Also if you open up onedrive in the browser you have the option to upload files from your pc in that window

Hope this makes sense and can help a little

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

I upload files from various folders on my computer to unrelated folders on OneDrive , with no attempt to synchronize the whole thing.

Jim1938

gtilford, that sounds like a good solution. I'll give it a try. Thanks...

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

I don't get what you are doing. Rather confusing to me.
1. Where do you put a folder that is "linked to OneDrive", other than the OneDirve folder in Documents?
2. How do you open OneDrive in a browser?

gtilford Loc: Woodstock, Ontario, Canada

You make a folder inside the onedrive folder on your computer. You do not have to do this step but it makes it simpler when you are looking for whatever you have wanted to upload.

To go to Onedrive in your browser just enter "https://onedrive" that should take you into a page to log into your onedrive account. You can access onedrive thru your browser that way.

The biggest reason I make a folder is because I have some issues with everything on my computer having to be a certain way. I have no files separate on my hard drives they are all in folders named so I can find them simply. I have worked on people's computers from back in the days of dos and I hate when they have done something or lost a photo that their kids sent them because they just downloaded it and have no idea where. I never charge these mostly older people for my time as I try to teach them or help them learn but it frustrates the hell out of me when I waste my time finding something that would have been easily found if you made a folder and simply downloaded whatever to the folder instead..........ok end of my little rant for the day.

I to was frustrated by the fact that I had 3/4 of a terabyte of files/folders and photos up on onedrive as my 4th back up and yet it was still on my pc as a backup in the onedrive folder. So technically I had everything backed up 5 times, but I wanted that space back so I came up with this work around when they told me it was not possible. Now anything I want to share or is shared with me I take a look at in my web browser, and if I want to keep whatever was shared with me I either use the download link in the web browser or I put it into the folder I created so that I get access to it on my phone. The biggest reason for the folder is to access items on the phone so that I do not have to use the browser on the phone.

Sorry a bit long winded today.

controversy Loc: Wuhan, China

Here are instructions for configuring OneDrive to keep on-line only files and free up space on your local disk using the On-Demand option.

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Save-disk-space-with-OneDrive-Files-On-Demand-for-Windows-10-0e6860d3-d9f3-4971-b321-7092438fb38e

Picture Taker Loc: Michigan Thumb

All my storage is on 2 (TWO) separate storage drives (*TB each). I last a drive and all my work once--never again 2 SEPARATE DRIVES.

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

This is what the Files-On-Demand page says:

"A blue cloud icon next to a OneDrive file or folder indicates that the file is only available online. Online-only files don’t take up space on your computer. You see a cloud icon for each online-only file in File Explorer, but the file doesn’t download to your device until you open it."

What does the last sentence say? The file downloads to your computer when you open it. I went through this. There is NO WAY to have the file on OneDrive NOT DOWNLOAD to your computer.

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

Entering "https://onedrive" (without the quotes) in my browser gets me a "This site can't be reached. Onedrive's server IP address could not be found." Even if it worked, what difference does it make how you access your OneDrive?

OneDrive Files-On-Demand site says:
"A blue cloud icon next to a OneDrive file or folder indicates that the file is only available online. Online-only files don’t take up space on your computer. You see a cloud icon for each online-only file in File Explorer, but the file doesn’t download to your device UNTIL YOU OPEN IT."

This being the case, opening a file on the cloud OneDrive would cause it to download to the computer no matter how you get to it. Exactly what I have experienced, and exactly what is not wanted.

Have you actually confirmed that files you open on OneDrive thru your browser ARE NOT DOWNLOADING TO YOUR COMPUTER?