Using One Drive to automatically back up My Documents folder

Anonymous
2014-05-28T20:37:52+00:00

Hello 

I would like to automatically sync the My Documents folder to One Drive. What is the best way of achieving this ?  The online information on OIneDRive does not make this clear 

Tony

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Files, folders, and storage

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@CmdrKeene 90,631 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2014-05-29T03:22:52+00:00

Perhaps the easiest way is to set the Documents folder to be saved inside your OneDrive folder.

  1. If you don't already have one there, create a folder named "Documents" inside your OneDrive folder.
  2. Right-click the original Documents folder (not the one created in step 1), and choose Properties
  3. On the Location tab, click Move, and choose the Documents folder you created in step 1.
  4. Confirm that you want to move your Documents folder.

You'll still see a Documents folder inside your C:\Users\Tony folder, but it's actually become a redirect -- anything put there will actually be inside OneDrive (both on your hard drive and, of course, synced up to OneDrive cloud).  You can even do this for your Desktop folder and other special shell folders that have a location tab on their properties.

Windows 8's Internet Explorer already syncs your bookmarks, but if you have a PC using 7 or older, this is also a great way to sync your bookmarks (Favorites).

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@CmdrKeene 90,631 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2014-05-30T21:58:38+00:00

The "Restore Default Location" button won't be available, but you will certainly be able to put Documents back to the proper location if you decide to do so later.  That warning is actually a bit of a stretch.

It's possible (although incredibly unlikely), that you would have to go set the Documents folder path correct in the registry, but even that is actually pretty quick and easy if you needed to.

In the registry, this value controls which folder is considered the "documents" folder.  It's under HKEY_Current_User\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

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  1. @CmdrKeene 90,631 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2018-02-15T18:40:51+00:00

    I care more about my data than anyone else does. Because of this I will always take my own backups, regardless of how sophisticated  OneDrive is.

    Good -- you absolutely should care more.  And you absolutely should be making your own backups.  OneDrive is not a backup. It might be a good part of an overall backup strategy, but it is not one by itself.

    Currently, I  complete ad-hoc backups of all of my data depending on amount of work done, to 1 TB USB drives. These are stored locally.

    Exactly, great job.  You should absolutely be doing this, so good work.  I myself use File History onto a external 3-TB external drive for versioned backups of all files (including ones that are also in OneDrive), but any backup onto another drive is great. Use what you prefer and like.

    Whenever I feel it necessary I also do the same thing to outside storage.

    It doesn't take too long but requires just an ounce of discipline.

    This gives me the confidence to go on......

    One Drive sounds great, but I am having trouble knowing how to use it safely to access my files from anywhere.

    OneDrive just keeps continuous sync of files.  Any file you drop into your c:\users\dizz\onedrive folder on your own hard drive will also sync and be stored at onedrive.com, so you can get to that file from any browser on earth, even your phone if you wanted.

    Even if OneDrive servers got vaporized by aliens and all the cloud storage was gone, your local copy stored on your C: drive would still be there like always.  The files never leave your computer, and they are always "just regular old files", so there's never a risk, and you can use your existing backup strategy without changing it at all.

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-02-15T18:35:55+00:00

    I care more about my data than anyone else does. Because of this I will always take my own backups, regardless of how sophisticated  OneDrive is.

    Currently, I  complete ad-hoc backups of all of my data depending on amount of work done, to 1 TB USB drives. These are stored locally.

    Whenever I feel it necessary I also do the same thing to outside storage.

    It doesn't take too long but requires just an ounce of discipline.

    This gives me the confidence to go on......

    One Drive sounds great, but I am having trouble knowing how to use it safely to access my files from anywhere.

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  3. @CmdrKeene 90,631 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2018-02-15T17:59:37+00:00

    They even have a new feature in case you get a virus that encrypts all your files at once, you can instantly restore them all.

    OneDrive is doing some really great things.

    They do have the option to only store in cloud (no local copy) but that's dangerous.  If your data only exists in one place, you don't have a backup -- you just have another single point of failure.  But then, OneDrive has never been meant to be a backup -- it's just supposed to be "another hard drive".  Your regular backup strategy (File History, scheduled backups, or even a service like Carbonite) should still continue to be used, even if you use OneDrive/Dropbox/GoogleDrive/Whatever.

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