OneDrive deleted local files and started syncing old files !

Anonymous
2020-04-03T18:14:49+00:00

Hi,

OneDrive has suddenly deleted files in local folders that was not synced with OneDrive.

I installed OneDrive a while ago on my work computer and copied a lot of different files including Visual Studio projects to the OneDriver folder.

Later found out that OneDrive was causing problems for the Visual Studio projects and even though I had marked all folders to also be kept locally it wasn't working correctly.

So I moved all of the Visual Studio projects and several other folders back to the original location to make sure I had them locally.

Time goes by, and today when I turn on my computer I notice a lot of old files have been synced to my Desktop which is synced using OneDrive.

Then I also realize that the files that I moved out of the OneDrive synced folders have suddenly appeared again and old versions from back when I initially copied the folders are being synced again.

When I look at the local folder that is NOT synced with OneDrive, many of the files are gone - just like that - GONE.

There is no way to get the files back and all my recent work is lost.

I have looked in the online Recycle Bin and the Second stage recycle bin and none of the files are there (since they were never in OneDrive but only locally).

It seems like OneDrive has reverted the old actions of when I moved the files to the local folder and now old versions from back then are being synced.

This is completely unacceptable.

I have lost all my recent work.

How do I get my local files that has now been deleted by OneDrive but which was not synced with OneDrive back?

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-10-30T23:33:26+00:00

    I was fortunate to have almost all my data in OneDrive cloud, albeit with thousands of duplicates. (I wonder who had the bright idea of adding suffix " - Copy"? It's a term you can't search for even if you use file: so the dups have to be hand zapped.)

    I agree very much re their deletion of our data. If anyone else was caught deleting data from a machine, they'd be arrested!

    Microsoft seem to insist that you go straight to the cloud for working files. That's okay if you work for Microsoft and a dirty great data pipe, but many mere mortals have slower data speeds. I hate it that you can't exclude the OneDrive folder from windows seearches. If I type in the name of a file in my local drive, it always suggests the copy on OneDrive. It's very annoying. 

    My message is .. stay calm! It's not worth the ulcer. (I know, I've had them.)

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-11-08T13:01:44+00:00

    same thing happend to me. when onedrive started the sync, all my locals files (desktop, documents,pictures folder) where deleted. right now I am having hard time downloading my files from onedrive.  

    onedrive should not delete our files stored in our computers.

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-11-14T09:12:44+00:00

    Happened to me. After enabling OneDrive auto backup/sync all my local files have been deleted and uploaded to OneDrive. Facepalm microsoft, if this is expected result when doing this action, atleast MAKE IT SUPER OBVIOUS TO THE USER THAT THIS IT WILL HAPPEN!!!

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-11-16T07:19:20+00:00

    I had long suspected that OneDrive was deleting new files/folder and reverting to old ‘backups’.  

    I’ve spent the past week in quarantine locked in a room so I thought I would tidy up my OneDrive folders on my PC - expecting them to replicate to the cloud.

    I created a series of new folders and moved old data files into the new folders.  The exercise was completed last night.   There were 20GB++ of changes.

    15 hours later all the new folders are gone and they are not in my PC or OneDrive recycle folders.   TO BE CLEAR, THE CHANGES I MADE ON MY PC WERE DELETED FROM MY PC.

    All the changes were made on my PC where I keep a local copy - so there is no issue that some files are cloud only.   Properly working, OneDrive should update my cloud records with what I’ve changed on my PC.   

    Instead, it’s almost as thought OD got confused with the volume of changes and has reverted to some random backup.

    This is really unacceptable and Microsoft need to address the problem.

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  5. Anonymous
    2020-11-16T15:29:52+00:00

    I share your concern. I use OneDrive as a place to manual backups and some bulky stuff I'd just prefer to keep securely in the cloud.

    I think that Microsoft want, expect, and therefore really try to FORCE, all users to use OneDrive as their working data source for everything. Whilst this may be a great way to work if you have a 10Gbps internet pipe, most mortals like us have to make do with download speeds of around 8Mbps to 80Mbps with upload speeds only about a sixth of that. 

    When OneDrive do a major update, I suspect that staff are think it's safe to assume that the OneDrive data is the the most up-to-date and that users don't really use their hard drives for anything.

    They make the same kind of assumptions such as C:<user>documents will always be the location of the Documents folder, even when you have an SSD with only enough room for Windows. (In my case, my C drive suddenly began to run out of space when I decided set some OneDrive folders to "local". At that point, I hadn't realised that OneDrive had taken it upon themselves to delete my D-drive data and change the system users folders to the C drive.

    I wish Microsoft would come clean and admit they've made a mistake that has affected lots of their customers. I've fixed my setup now, but, unless OneDrive staff recognise their error, will it happen again?

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