The Problem With OneDrive Backup

❌ OneDrive's backup function is broken. I'll explain why and what to do about it.

❌ OneDrive Backup? No thanks
The “Manage folder backup” option in OneDrive moves the contents of your Documents (and Desktop and Pictures) folder into the OneDrive folder. This can cause you to exceed your OneDrive storage limits. Turning the feature off isn’t enough to undo the damage.

Chapters
0:00 OneDrive Backup Problem
0:38 What it's doing
1:30 What happens to your documents
3:00 Finding your documents folders
5:15 The cloud
8:10 Enabling OneDrive backup
11:30 OneDrive moves Documents
13:10 Data limits
15:00 Turn off backup
16:00 Where are your documents?
17:20 Putting everything back
18:20 The short explanation
21:00 Recommendation

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[jorg]

Your the first person to explain how OneDrive works in a way that's logical and understandable.

[javierdelaolainez]

Confused is putting it lightly, furious is more suitable. For close to an hour I thought I had lost all my files. Thank you for your video.

[aieousavren]

I love how clear this guy is. The pace, the demonstrations, the emphasis he uses... it must be really helpful for people who are having trouble understanding this sort of thing! This video is surely a gem for the people who need it. Great job and thanks!

[jbourque]

If only everyone posting help videos online could be as clear as you. I finally understand how OneDrive works. THANK YOU !

[brucebuckeye]

This is such a bad idea on so many levels. To make matters worse there is no attempt to explain this concept to a user (except by Leo!) Thank you sir - this engineer finally has a grasp.

[susangabriel]

Thank you so much for explaining how One Drive works! I've been beside myself since I turned on backup thinking it was a good thing, and frantic after my business documents all disappeared! I didn't know what to do about it. I finally found them on One Drive, but when I worked on the documents on OneDrive (large Photoshop files or large MS Word docs), they were very slow and would stop frequently. So I started putting everything I was working on into the downloads folder for safekeeping. Yesterday I ordered a 5TB hard drive to handle my backups and I'm going to straighten out my files and turn off OneDrive forever. All it's done is take up precious time - and a lot of it - to manage my files. I am very disgusted with Microsoft for removing my files from my hard drive!! I thought they would be just backed up - not REMOVED!

[falconhunter]

Finally I understand one drive after several years. Everything described happened to me, confusion and frustration everywhere. Ask Leo. Well done.

[keithesq]

OMG Leo. I was totally lost. Best 22 minutes I've spent in the last year. You saved me. You made it so easy, even I understand what's occurring. Thank you, thank you THANK YOU!

[mcswqsd]

This is probably the best explanation I've ever seen on YouTube. You explained very clearly and precisely, and your speaking pace was slow enough to follow. Plus you showed on screen what is really happening and the consequence of actions Microsoft seem force you to take. Microsoft is not necessarily my friend. I thought I was loosing my mind looking for documents. Now I can create a plan to identify where my docs may exist. I'm afraid of finding out I may have lost documents by turning backup on, then turning it off. I recently had a problem with my hard drive, and the support staff told me they had never seen such a mess.

[acaa]

Thanks for this video, Leo. Another nasty thing with OneDrive is when you have two computers, doing two completely different kinds of work, and yet OneDrive only allows for one desktop folder. It creates a big mess in a big hurry with icons for programs that you don’t use on each of the computers and other useless annoyances.

[tommoore]

Many thanks Leo. My wife accidentally turned on one drive back up on her PC without realising the implications. I was then ‘called in’ to fix it and had no idea what had gone on until I watched your very informative video. Thanks again.

[anthonyminchinton]

YOU HAVE NO IDEA how useful this is. I work in an Apple Macintosh environment, but we do have one Windows PC. I watched your video at the end of a long hard day and appreciated your slow deliberate clear explanation - especially as I do not know Windows at all. You have just saved us losing a clients files.

[kurtburkhardt]

Not being a computer expert, I didn't know how the One Drive hijacked my pictures and documents. I will figure how to shut this off. It has messed with my ability to store pictures or videos and has even locked out my e-mail account. F'n frustrating. I have tried to explain this to my wife and she doesn't have this problem as she uses Google and probably never turned on the cloud backup. Thanks for making this video and helping those of us who just want to store our files locally.

[IonidisIX]

Well done Leo. You are probably the only one explaining this confusing and very invasive application so well on yt.

[hdhnpry]

There is little to add to what people have already said. You are a hero for providing such a clear explanation of this very confusing issue.

[pbrock]

OMG! That EXPLAINS IT!!! I was so confused with all the multiple seeming duplicate folders and even though I can see where they are by looking at the file properties, It seems like I'm still having problems locating the stupid files. I'm just going to turn it off and manage myself, which is what I've always done before anyway. This causes too much confusion. Thank you for your great explanation on how it works!!

[peterking]

Thank you for a clear and well presented video. I was told that my 5Gb limit had been reached, and I spent hours yesterday evening deleting photos one at a time (I don't know how to to delete them all at once) . And today they were all back! Now I've learnt to stop back up, I don't get nagged any more to buy storage. Cheers!

[kstaxman]

Leo you're the king of explaining Microsoft items and apps. Thanks for all your hard work.

[jeffreyrh]

THANK I turned off backup thinking I didn't need it and ALL my desktop icons were gone! This was so confusing, but you cleared it up. Thanks again!

[epix]

Thanks Leo, so many videos out there about how amazing onedrive is and how easy it is to setup but you are the first one I have found who explains these pitfalls well and it takes away a lot of confusion! Even though I don’t like the way it is designed knowing how it works is essential if you want to make use of it. And why Microsoft doesn’t explain this better is very strange, the least they could do is give you warnings about the effects of turning the feature on or off so you can understand the consequences. Anyway, super helpful, thanks!