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
    2021-07-28T20:50:59+00:00

    It's July 2021 and, for the second time, I have the same problem. No solution from MS.

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-06-20T20:37:49+00:00

    Just ran into this: I have all my pictures uploaded to onedrive - some were stored in incorrect orientation. I changed this locally, and I could see they were uploaded to onedrive. 2 minutes later, the old version was downloaded, replacing my changes. No idea how to fix it.

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-06-13T19:35:44+00:00

    I'm having a similar issue. I tried disabling oneDrive a few months ago, but it is still doing things like deleting my new files. This is a terrible experience and wasting hours of my time.

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  4. Anonymous
    2021-04-25T22:11:44+00:00

    I found my files. 

    They were in C:\Users\Username\Onedrive - Companyname\Desktop

    I am happy the files are back. Yet. What the heck?

    Just to recap:

    1. I got corrupt files from OneDrive to an extent that I had to use CHKDSK to be able to delete them

    1. I moved the files into a normal ntfs folder on C:\
    2. everything worked fine for about three weeks
    3. I try to launch the game today, and I see the icon on the task bar is missing.
    4. I navigate to my C:\Games folder just to realise, that all files are gone but some that were created after moving the folder. Also the folder structure is intact.
    5. I find the files in C:\Users\Username\Onedrive - Companyname\Desktop.
    6. I stand in awe of microsoft incompetence.

    Perhaps more regular windows users are used to this kind of stuff, but for me as a linux user it's incomprehensible how microsoft can fail you so much, even with basic file system operations.Than I remember they are mostly business developers, marketing and lawyers. Software development just isn't a mayor competence of the company.

    Sorry for being cynical, but this is ridicolous. I just had a similar experience when I realised you cannot delete threads in Teams. But than on the other hand, thanks for the entertainment. Your software makes me laugh a lot. It's just bad at work, where my non-IT bosses just won't believe how such a succesful company can be so lousy.

    I removed onedrive. I hope it will stay away. But this seems to be a deeper issue than just a syncing tool.

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  5. Anonymous
    2021-04-25T21:45:22+00:00

    1. Uninstall one drive - I have been able to do this now.

    2. Back up all files on a separate usb linked hard drive - save copies of everything on there.

    3. At start up click on Onedrive/settings/unlink this PC to stop onedrive uploading everything - you can then save files to your separate hard drive. - have to do this every time you start up though.

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