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Split from this thread.
"I am subscribed to 1 TB OneDrive to backup my computer's D and E inner drives sized 979 GB and 883 GB respectively.
After having backup-ed the drives in OneDrive, the data reappear again in the C: OneDrive folder clogging it with 507 GB and not leaving room for additional programs. Why do I have the same data twice in the computer? Please, what solution is suggested?"
The OneDrive folder by default is on the C drive unless you move it to another drive. Your files are synced to the online OneDrive from that folder. If you choose to keep it on the C drive then use the "Free up space" option suggested in the reply above.
How to change the location of the OneDrive folder: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/change-the-location-of-your-onedrive-folder-f386fb81-1461-40a7-be2c-712676b2c4ae
Thanks but I am trying to remove my duplicates - except I want to select the folder on my actual computer, *not* my OneDrive and yet it's masking it as OneDrive, there is no way to select my actual folder on my pc, why? I want to back it up on hard drive because I don't trust OneDrive. How can I find the folder on my computer that are actually on my PC hard drive and *not* One Drive?
A Microsoft file hosting and synchronization service.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
Also, my OneDrive in my task bar has been "looking for changes" as you can see in the below for over a week now - how long does the syncing take? I've kept my pc on the entire time. Thanks again Craig, Paulina
Definitely, something is not working correctly.
Try this: Fix OneDrive sync problems
Sorry Craig but I am confused again - what do you mean by "backing up to Desktop"? Desktop is on the computer, what do you mean by backup? You mean a hard drive SSD? Can I not just uninstall OneDrive somehow? The problem is, that if I buy another laptop, I want to move this 1TB file structure of digital archives over quite easily to another laptop and I understand for Geek Squad that the best way to do that is to sync them all up with OneDrive, that way they all "appear" on different computers. But I guess this will give problems since Microsoft is now forcing us to save things to OneDrive. What are my options here? Uninstall OneDrive and back up to SSD? How do I do that? Also, if I want to keep OneDrive, why is it taking over 1 week for One Drive to be "looking for changes" and never finishing?
Ugh, what a nightmare. I am trying to consolidate all my files from my past hard drives (over 1TB of data) because I need a good digital archival history, it's very sentimental as well, and it's a real pain to do with all these issues. All I want is: move files where I want to, save files where I want to, name files how I want to name them and so on. It should be simple, no? Instead, OneDrive is forcing me by re-routing everything, so that I can't trust the system! Ugh.
Thanks again,
Paulina.
Backing up to OneDrive means making copies to the cloud at onedrive.live.com. No copies are made to your computer. When you turn on the backup at Manage Backup, your five folders, the Desktop, Documents, Pictures, Music, and Videos folders, move into your computer's OneDrive folder at C>Users>username>OneDrive. Files must be in the OneDrive folder in order to make copies to the cloud.
You can uninstall OneDrive, but first, go to Manage Backup and make sure the backup is toggled to OFF on all five folders listed there. Then, you can uninstall OneDrive.
Thanks Craig for the explanation. And thanks for the help in getting the files unstuck with the Onedrive syncing, nothing has worked so far based on the links you provided me. Next, I'll try to un-link my Onedrive and link it back again. Will I lose any files in this scenario? Also, if I completely uninstall Onedrive, would I lose any of my files? Also, if my files are sitting in Onedrive, is there a chance that they are located up in the cloud in Onedrive and *not* on my C drive held locally on my PC? I really don't want to be in a situation where I uninstall Onedrive and lose some of my data because it's stuck up in the Onedrive cloud and not on C locally. Please let me know. Many thanks, Paulina
Thanks Craig for the explanation. And thanks for the help in getting the files unstuck with the Onedrive syncing, nothing has worked so far based on the links you provided me. Next, I'll try to un-link my Onedrive and link it back again. Will I lose any files in this scenario? Also, if I completely uninstall Onedrive, would I lose any of my files? Also, if my files are sitting in Onedrive, is there a chance that they are located up in the cloud in Onedrive and *not* on my C drive held locally on my PC? I really don't want to be in a situation where I uninstall Onedrive and lose some of my data because it's stuck up in the Onedrive cloud and not on C locally. Please let me know. Many thanks, Paulina
You're welcome.
If you have copies on the cloud, you won't lose any files because they are your backups. If you want copies on your computer, make sure your files don't have blue cloud icons. In any event, do not delete the OneDrive folder since those may be your only copies. When you turn off the backup at Manage Backup, remove the files from your PC's OneDrive folder.
Also, if my files are sitting in Onedrive, is there a chance that they are located up in the cloud in Onedrive and *not* on my C drive held locally on my PC?
Yes. Files with little blue cloud icons are not on your computer. That's why I want you to make sure the files have green icons and solid green icons (Always keep on this device icons) are better.