I've got OneDrive backing files at work.

I don't need or want it to back up every folder. So I've selected some folders to not be backedup.

When I do this, one drive is telling me "If you stop syncing files or folders, they'll stay on OneDrive but won't be on this PC. If they're already on this PC, they'll be deleted"

WTF would OneDrive DELETE files on my PC?

I've deleted a bunch of files on OneDrive (but not my local drive) and it is asking me if I want to restore them, or remove them from all drive...WTF..Does that mean it's going to delete my HDD files as well? Search MS Knowledge base..no clear answers.

Searching MS Knowledge base their are all kinds of confusing support requests with NO ANSWERS from MS regarding sync and deletion of files. Good heavens, how hard is it to set up a back up system and WHY WOULD AN ONLINE BACKUP DELETE FILES ON MY HDD. so effing stupid.

I agree OD's handling of files is confusing, Dropbox's solution is much more straightforward.

If I am not mistaken, I THINK there is an option that tries to mirror two different machines in every way possible. Not sync per se but true mirrors.

It is annoying and I have not found the fix I was looking for yet either. For example, I would download a program on my main PC and then my Surface will automatically create a desktop icon of the same program but won't be able to run it, since ya know, it's not on my surface. So I am not sure if your problem is OneDrive per se but maybe just a Windows one? That's what I concluded my issue was. Which is still unresolved as well.

OneDrive has a feature where it will sync metadata about files even if it doesn't sync the actual files. This was in response to high bandwidth usage seen, when you open the directory it had to call out to get all the file info to display in the directory, syncing the metadata prevents this. My cousin's husband was the program manager for one drive several years ago, and he talked at length about why they made these choices.

It makes it a strange experience from what I've heard, I don't use it, just take caution that the "file" you see may not actually be the file, just a reference to it. So deletion may actually delete it on the server

Yeah that's what scared me the most, was it deleting the other way for novice end-users accustomed to Dropbox... cleaning off their hard drives and wiping out their online files.

I wouldn't use OneDrive as my "Back up". Use a backup program for that. iDrive for example will back up to the cloud but also sync to a local device. Buy a external USB drive for $50 and you will have local (and you could grab the USB drive and take it in an emergency) plus a cloud backup with versioning, which protects you from Ransomware attacks etc.

Also, I don't trust Microsoft.

One mistake that many people make is thinking that the on-line backups are useful for archiving files. They will backup files that they want to keep and then delete them from their computer. Then, depending on retention policies of the backup company, the files are deleted from the backup copy.

I wonder if this issue in this topic is related to that issue. If the backup thinks that it has a complete copy of what is supposed to be on the disk, it might think that anything not backed up is not supposed to be on the disk and will eventually remove it. It doesn't make sense to back up some files, though, such as system files and temporary files such as swap files and system caches.

Also, if you have the distribution for a package, it would make more sense to reinstall it if needed instead of restoring it from a backup.

It sounds like the folders where your files are in are onedrive folders so when you say you don't want to sync them it assumes you just want them in the cloud and not taking up HD space, that is why they are defaulting back to the cloud. At my work folders like "documents" are auto sync folders so they are available locally and backup to the cloud. If you want to stop your folders from syncing with onedrive you need to move them to a new location, somewhere on your C drive that isn't a onedrive folder.

I made a folder on my C drive called "local files" that I only keep things I don't want synced to the cloud (this is helpful in times with poor internet so it doesn't take forever for files to load and save files). You'll need to do something like that.

Also for the person that suggested iCloud, from what you describe Onedrive works the same way. It syncs files locally and to the cloud, if you delete something on your computer/cloud it'll mirror that deletion on the cloud/computer as well. The difference is you can also choose to not keep folders locally and only keep them in the cloud. I do this for big files I would like to archive and don't need taking up space on my HD.

Sounds like you are trying to set up access to your personal OneDrive at work but don't want it to sync the folders with your pron in them. I could be wrong.

92Ag95 said:

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Sounds like you are trying to set up access to your personal OneDrive at work but don't want it to sync the folders with your pron in them. I could be wrong.

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. It's actually my work OneDrive account. They set up to back up everything and as noted above my folders are now matching the ONeDrive folders.
I do my best to not link any personal stuff at work. Sure as hell or porn. I'd like to keep this job a few more years.