One drive has messed up my whole PC. How do I get my files back on my PC, and switch off one drive forever. (Please dont answer a question I did not ask)?

Anonymous
2024-01-12T07:27:02+00:00

One drive asked me if I wanted to back-up my files, it does not back up, it steals them and puts them online and in the process loses lots of them and makes your whole document opening slower.

This is not what I wanted, and its not what it said it would do (back up)

I dont want it, it has messed up my whole PC.

How do I get my files back on my PC, and switch off one drive forever?

Please dont answer a question I did not ask, don't tell me about where they are stored and an online recycle bin, or green ticks or always keep on this device.

I just want to COMPLETELY reverse the operation.

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2025-05-01T02:16:25+00:00

    I'd like to say that Microsoft has not been forthcoming about what OneDrive is. I too had my whole file system messed up because of One Drive. Normally when one reads that files will be "backed up" one assumes a COPY will be made on the back up platform. Microsoft should make clear up front that One Drive TRANSFERS your files, it does not BACK THEM UP. I've spent an inordinate amount of time I really don't have cleaning this mess up.

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  2. Anonymous
    2025-05-02T18:07:04+00:00

    Hello all and unfortunately I am the latest to join this long list of people affected by this.

    One drive as you all say has not BACKED UP my files but taken them away and created a structure of cloned shortcuts of my my system files and data that are on the cloud.

    It was warning me to do this every time I logged in and I eventually pressed the YES button and now its too late.

    Now I either keep this awful shortcut structure and pay the ransom to expand my online storage so it is large enough to accommodate my full system

    OR spend ages downloading and rebuilding my file structure and reinstalling my packages to get them working again.

    System and pref files are partially there so packages do not open or if they do whole windows and toolbars are missing.

    I have multiple duplicates of folders.

    It is a terrible system and what is worse there isn't a straight forward way to PUT IT ALL BACK LOCALLY.

    Why is there not simply a REVERT TO OFFLINE feature?

    The commands are not easy to find and are unhelpful to say the least.

    I am very disappointed with this and the way I have been nudged into it.

    I am fully in agreement with the majority of the posts here.

    I have seen many people loose access to software, functionality and lose files due to onedrive and this has happened to many of the students I work with too.

    So please could you create a restore / revert to offline structure feature?

    I have seen guides saying find the "keep online only" button etc and other commands I cannot find.

    It is a terrible way to handle users files and hold them to ransom online.

    Very dissatisfied.

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  3. Anonymous
    2025-05-10T22:26:59+00:00

    WTH has OneDrive done to all my stuff??? It worked well for years. Today, a message popped up saying it can't sync files because the path is too long. After some investigation, I noticed OD has moved all my files DEEP into the documents folder on my E drive. Everything used to be at the root level.

    Here is the path to some of my stuff. I've got to find the remainder.

    "E:\OneDrive\Documents\OneDrive\Documents\OneDrive\Documents\OneDrive\Documents\OneDrive\Documents\OneDrive\Documents\OneDrive\Documents\OneDrive\Documents\OneDrive\Documents\OneDrive\Documents\OneDrive\Documents"

    It's going to take all my Saturday evening to figure out what the hell is going on AND decide if I want to move to a more reliable backup solution.

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  4. Anonymous
    2025-05-11T00:40:40+00:00

    Similar to this? "\OneDrive\Documents\OneDrive\Documents\OneDrive\Documents\OneDrive\Documents\OneDrive\Documents\OneDrive\Documents\OneDrive\Documents\OneDrive\Documents\OneDrive\Documents\OneDrive\Documents\OneDrive\Documents"

    I don't know what happened or when, but my stuff had been buried that deep and some other things were in other locations. I found out when OD told me it couldn't sync files because the path was too long. I uninstalled the app and got everything back in order on my laptop. It had even moved files not being backed up into that folder structure. Reinstalled the app and hoping there aren't any issues. I suggest everyone ignore the pop-up when Windows starts asking if you want to backup documents and such. I did ignore it for a long time and finally decided to click though the process, thinking I was not agreeing to anything additional being backed up. It even began backing up my Desktop and I explicitly said NO.

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  5. Anonymous
    2025-05-16T22:22:08+00:00

    I am utterly perturbed at Microsoft OneDrive. This gentleman has posed a very concise question. I hope that it will be answered because I need the same information.

    I want my computer back! I don't want Microsoft OneDrive or the affects it has on personal system, such as backing up my desktop, then making it fubar when I try to restore. I don't want an answer to this in particular; I want it gone from my computer. I don't want any of it. I want an operating system for my computer. My computer.

    I will decide where, when, and how to backup my personal documents.

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