Upload Folder Of Photographs To Photos In OneDrive

LGLDSR73-6492 1,480 Reputation points
2026-08-05T13:10:37.21+00:00

Greetings,

If I upload files to One Drive from an External drive and remove the drive from the system, will One Drive delete the files when it looks for the external drive and does not find it?

These are actually photographs within a Folder and when I go to 'Photos' I am not seeing "Create or Upload" as I do within 'Files'.

How can I upload this Folder to Photos? Size is 468GB.

Many thanks.

LGLDSR73

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | For home | Other
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Answer accepted by question author
DaveM121 930.8K Reputation points Independent Advisor
2026-08-05T13:48:55.09+00:00

If you have a Microsoft 365 subscription with 1TB of OneDrive storage online, log into OneDrive online (https://onedrive.live.com/) and check your storage at the bottom left to ensure you have enough free space on your account online so the files will fit on your OneDrive, because if you go over your allocation online, the files may be deleted.

Then, if you do have enough storage online, by Default OneDrive syncs your Documents, Desktop and Pictures folders on your PC, do not copy the files form your external drive into any of those folders online, because OneDrive may sync the files back down into your C drive.

Create a new folder in OneDrive online for the upload and name it appropriately.

Open that folder.

You can then drag the files from your external drive into the new folder on OneDrive online, and do not interrupt the upload until it has completed to ensure the file transfer has completed correctly.

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  1. AI answer

    2026-08-05T13:11:01.9466667+00:00

    If the photos are uploaded to OneDrive, they stay in OneDrive after the external drive is disconnected. Uploading copies the files to OneDrive. Moving files into a OneDrive folder removes them from the original location and adds them to OneDrive.

    For a folder of photos, upload it through Files, not a separate Photos upload flow:

    1. Open OneDrive in a browser or in File Explorer.
    2. Go to the destination folder in Files.
    3. Upload the photo folder there:
      • In Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome, select Upload / Add new and choose Folder upload.
      • Or drag the folder into OneDrive.
      • Or, if OneDrive is synced to File Explorer, drag or cut/paste the folder into the OneDrive folder.
    4. After upload completes, the photos will appear in OneDrive and can be surfaced in the Photos experience.

    For 468 GB, use the OneDrive desktop app or File Explorer sync instead of the website upload button. The website supports files up to 250 GB per file, and for large transfers or lots of files, the recommended method is adding them through the desktop app.

    Important limits and notes:

    • A folder upload in the browser is supported in Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome.
    • The full path must be fewer than 442 characters.
    • Empty files and 0-byte files cannot be uploaded from the website.
    • If the files are already in a synced OneDrive folder and later deleted there, that deletion can sync. If the source is just an external drive being used to upload, disconnecting the drive does not cause OneDrive to delete the uploaded copies.

    If the goal is the safest approach for a very large photo archive:

    1. Connect the external drive.
    2. Make sure the OneDrive desktop app is signed in.
    3. In File Explorer, open the external drive in one window and the OneDrive folder in another.
    4. Copy or move the photo folder into OneDrive.
    5. Wait for sync status icons to show upload progress and completion before disconnecting the drive.
    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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