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)?

OneDrive completely changed a file on one laptop and the file no longer exists on either. It ruined a year of work. How do i get it back??? I think your answer to this guy basically ignores that he is saying the same thing.

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Hello Mikeharbour,

I truly understand what you've gone through on this, seems like you are having issues with the OneDrive backup feature. This feature is intended to backup your files and store it to OneDrive cloud storage, on your scenario possible reason is that the Files on Demand is not properly configured that's why whenever you want to access the files it will need first to download the files from the cloud instead of it being always locally ready on your device storage. Save disk space with OneDrive Files On-Demand for Windows - Microsoft Support.

If you no longer want to use this feature and turn-off OneDrive, here are the steps you can perform:

Make sure to sync back the files first so that you can save a local copy of it:

1. Open OneDrive folder, then locate all of the files you want to retain.
2. Select all the files you want to retain, then right click and select "Always keep on this device" so that it will be saved locally on your storage. From there you should see this icon:

Once done saving back your files locally, you may proceed on unlinking your account on your OneDrive:

1. Open File Explorer and navigate to the OneDrive folder.
2. Right-click on the OneDrive folder and select "Settings".
3. In the "Account" tab, click "Unlink OneDrive".
4. Follow the prompts to complete the unlinking process.

I hope this answers your question. If you need further assistance, please do let me know.

Best regards,

Arquel C.

Microsoft Moderator

I'm sure you know how to avoid OneDrive altogether. The problem is keeping files in the Desktop, Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos, and, of course, OneDrive folders. The sync often turns on without your approval in Manage Backup.

I have the same issue. I made the mistake of buying the $99.95/year office 365 subscription. They include 1TB of cloud storage with that. I never EVER intentionally setup OneDrive. In fact, I've been ignoring it for about ten years. I backup my files locally. I store my files locally on my computer and I backup all my PERSONAL files and PERSONAL photos and videos locally. I use Google drive for some stuff that I want on multiple machines. I have never wanted to use OneDrive, and I have never intentionally installed it.

(And to be clear, I'm a webtech entrepreneur who built, scaled, and exited a successful SaaS business, so I know how to use technology. Quite well in fact.)

Anyway, my computer recently did an H2 update from last year and it appears that as part of that Windows software update, Microsoft decided ON THEIR OWN to just change the settings in OneDrive so that My Documents and Desktop and Pictures are now automatically required to participate in OneDrive. And so all my files were copied to OneDrive.

Worse than that - much, much worse actually - many/most of them appear to have actually been moved off of my computer and now reside only on OneDrive and anytime I go to open one, it has to wait to download it from the cloud. Which sometimes takes quite a long time.

I'm so, so furious about this. So furious. This should be a class action lawsuit.

Here's what's worse: Microsoft has effectively *stolen* my files and is now holding them *ransom*. Why do I allege this? Because from others' comments in this forum, it's clear that if I cancel my Office 365 subscription and the storage drops from 1TB back down to the free 5GB, then the 120GB of files that were offloaded from my computer and onto OneDrive will become completely unavailable to me. The only way to get these back, if at all, will be to resubscribe to Office 365. This is ransom, plain and simple.

It's clear from reading others postings this is going to take me hours if not days to untangle. I hope I can get it back to the way it was before, and get my files out of their cloud. (Good luck with that, they will have been copied and copied over and over already to more and more systems and I'm sure they'll always be there. All my personal photos and personal files.) I don't have this time to spend. I did not choose to spend my time this way. It's one of the last things I want to do with my time.

I'm super, super pissed. This is a total violation of consumer trust. They should be sued. Maybe they will be.

I am having the same problem. Is there any way we can complain to Microsoft? I feel violated by Onedrive. They are moving my files around and saving them in different places without my permission. Now I am afraid that I will loose everything.

Hello I had a similar situation but, I've paid $19.99 for extra back-up storage space and then it really slowed my computer to an almost crawl trying to load the files. When I looked at my files, Onedrive was listed twice so I deleted one of them and unlinked the remaining one. A couple of my folders disappeared and I'm not sure where they are located now. Thanks