Is Google Drive better than Onedrive?

Marie SWE · Sep 29, 2026

I think i actually going to Tag @Brink on this one and ask him this question.

Hi Brink

as you post news and tutorials and reads a lot about Windows and OneDrive.
If i have super sensitive data so the world is going to end if it becomes a future data leak. If i want to encrypt my Data using Bitlocker before i upload it to OneDrive, so it will be in an encrypted state on OneDrive. How would you solve that?

Brink · Sep 29, 2026

Marie SWE said:
I think i actually going to Tag @Brink on this one and ask him this question.

Hi Brink
as you post news and tutorials and reads a lot about Windows and OneDrive.
If i have super sensitive data so the world is going to end if it becomes a future data leak. If i want to encrypt my Data using Bitlocker before i upload it to OneDrive, so it will be in an encrypted state on OneDrive. How would you solve that?

Something like that shouldn't be uploaded to the cloud.

OneDrive does have a Personal Vault feature that could be used to keep sensitive files safer.

Set up OneDrive Personal Vault in Windows 11 and Windows 10

This tutorial will show you how to set up Personal Vault in OneDrive for your account in Windows 10 and Windows 11. You can use OneDrive to sync files and folders between your computer and the cloud, so you can get to your files from anywhere - your computer, your mobile device, and even...

www.elevenforum.com

Marie SWE · Sep 29, 2026

idgat said:
Of which there is no guarantee for either/any service. Personal choice, horses for courses. One could argue there is a difference between privacy and security in relation to cloud storage

OP appears only interested in free limits and may have to resort to a combination -- OD, GD, DB, et al

Within the bounds of the OP's privacy (Damn, there's that word again!), I'm curious as to what type of files are so confidential the OP requires that extra level of encryption? Maybe those items would be better excluded from cloud services

Yeah i mention that in post #3 that nothing is 100% secure if it is connected to internet. and in post #9 i mention my solution.

Marie SWE · Sep 29, 2026

Brink said:
Something like that shouldn't be uploaded to the cloud.

OneDrive does have a Personal Vault feature that could be used to keep sensitive files safer.

Set up OneDrive Personal Vault in Windows 11 and Windows 10

This tutorial will show you how to set up Personal Vault in OneDrive for your account in Windows 10 and Windows 11. You can use OneDrive to sync files and folders between your computer and the cloud, so you can get to your files from anywhere - your computer, your mobile device, and even...

www.elevenforum.com

i just knew you sat on a solution.

i use VeraCrypt containers if i use cloud storage.. that way if it becomes a data-leak, its useless data for the person that get hold of it

TraderGary · Sep 29, 2026

Marie SWE said:
How would you solve if you want to use Bitlocker to first encrypt the data you upload to the cloud?

I'm asking as OP wondered of how to encrypt the data before upload.
and also I'm curious to know how i would do it, if i ever end up on win11 or next win12 as my primary driver in the future

When OneDrive is synchronizing with cloud OneDrive, the data is not BitLocker encrypted nor is it BitLocker encrypted in cloud OneDrive. In cloud OneDrive your OneDrive data is AES 256-bit encrypted. Microsoft then holds the encryption key, and yes, I trust Microsoft not to steal my data.

Brink · Sep 29, 2026

Marie SWE said:
Yeah i mention that in post #3 that nothing is 100% secure if it is connected to internet. and in post #9 i mention my solution.

Agreed, but nothing is truly safe from access by the government if wanted.

Marie SWE · Sep 29, 2026

Brink said:
Agreed, but nothing is truly safe from access by the government if wanted.

i know.. that is why i use encrypted container files.. to crack them even by a government will take a few hundred to thousand years.... so i will be dead ten times over before they crack them. *lol*

Marie SWE · Sep 29, 2026

TraderGary said:
When OneDrive is synchronizing with cloud OneDrive, the data is not BitLocker encrypted nor is it BitLocker encrypted in cloud OneDrive. In cloud OneDrive your OneDrive data is AES 256-bit encrypted. Microsoft then holds the encryption key, and yes, I trust Microsoft not to steal my data.

I will leave out my opinions (you know i have) in this thread and only focus on a solution for OP.

Okay, so if i really want to keep the data encrypted in the cloud, i have to either use a 3party tool.... or if i really want to use bitlocker i can cheat with making a small virtual disk VHDX that i mount in disk manager and make bitlocker encrypted and then i can upload that VHDX file as a solution to keep the data encrypted in the cloud in case of a data leak and the file is then useless for the bad actor as only you and Microsoft have the key?

Golden · Sep 29, 2026

22ww said:
I only have a 5GB limit on onedrive on my win 11 PC. I was thinking of getting google drive which is 15GB, 3x bigger storage. Is it worth it? Is it as safe as onedrive? I want to make sure that my stuff doesn't get hacked into by hackers since I have sensitive files.

Google drive is probably easier to work with (easier to schedule specific folders - OneDrive only looks at a specific set /Documents, /Desktop etc. etc.). You could 7ZIP to encrypt your files and compress them, then upload those to Google Drive.

TraderGary · Sep 29, 2026

Marie SWE said:
I will leave out my opinions (you know i have) in this thread and only focus on a solution for OP.

Okay, so if i really want to keep the data encrypted in the cloud, i have to either use a 3party tool.... or if i really want to use bitlocker i can cheat with making a small virtual disk VHDX that i mount in disk manager and make bitlocker encrypted and then i can upload that VHDX file as a solution to keep the data encrypted in the cloud in case of a data leak and the file is then useless for the bad actor as only you and Microsoft have the key?

A bit circuitous, yes. I'm sure not any kind of solution for OP.

22ww · Oct 1, 2026

idgat said:
And there's the rub ...they're both Microsoft products that should work together, but try to use one or the other with a non-Microsoft alternative for the other ..... the tears will flow.

I'm confused. Are you saying that using google drive is worse than using onedrive?

Marie SWE · Oct 1, 2026

22ww said:
I'm confused. Are you saying that using google drive is worse than using onedrive?

Both GoogleDrive and OneDrive is the same as far i know.
* The user terms are similar.
* They both have same local laws
* The security is similar.
* and i did say i never should mention it.. and Privacy is the same.
Best solution for both Security and Privacy is to go for those that offer true end-to-end encryption (also called zero-knowledge)

What is zero-knowledge cloud storage? | Proton

Zero-knowledge cloud storage protects your files with end-to-end encryption so only you can access your data. Here’s how it works.

proton.me

Best Zero-Knowledge Cloud Storage (Client-Side Encryption)

Discover the best zero-knowledge cloud storage providers, including Sync.com and pCloud. Compare security, pricing, speed and more.

www.cloudwards.net

I use Proton when i dont use my own server that i access with overlay VPN

jimbo45 · Oct 1, 2026

22ww said:
I'm confused. Are you saying that using google drive is worse than using onedrive?

BMW , Mercedes, or Audi. Both Google and Ms are good for cloud provision - just go on price and availability-- both systems seem resilient and well proven against hackers / malware etc. Both systems take regular backups too so relieving you of that chore. I wouldn't even worry about bitlocker etc -- both systems transfer data in encryption anyway so even if anybody did intercept the data stream it just appears as garbage - not as plain text. plain .exe files, multi-media streams etc etc. etc.

I'm also sure that their encryption / de-cryption algorithms are light years faster than any local bit locker descrambling on a home PC!!!.

For individuals Google seems cheaper if you don't have an office/365 subscription -- if you DO have a family office/365 subscription you get quite a bit of cloud space thrown in for free (although cost of the office/365 subscription) has gone up a lot and it's even more when you add in Sales / VAT or other types of taxes on your purchase) especially in some jurisdictions where VAT is a whopping 20% !!!!!.

Cheers
jimbo

22ww · Oct 1, 2026

Marie SWE said:
Both GoogleDrive and OneDrive is the same as far i know.
* The user terms are similar.
* They both have same local laws
* The security is similar.
* and i did say i never should mention it.. and Privacy is the same.
Best solution for both Security and Privacy is to go for those that offer true end-to-end encryption (also called zero-knowledge)

What is zero-knowledge cloud storage? | Proton

Zero-knowledge cloud storage protects your files with end-to-end encryption so only you can access your data. Here’s how it works.

proton.me

Best Zero-Knowledge Cloud Storage (Client-Side Encryption)

Discover the best zero-knowledge cloud storage providers, including Sync.com and pCloud. Compare security, pricing, speed and more.

www.cloudwards.net

I use Proton when i dont use my own server that i access with overlay VPN

Appreciate this. One snag that I encountered was that when I went into onedrive settings to stop onedrive from backing up my documents folders, i no longer see it on quick access in file manager. When i go to C:\Users\YourUsername\Documents to pin it again, nothing happens. what do you suggest?

TairikuOkami · Oct 1, 2026

22ww said:
I want to make sure that my stuff doesn't get hacked into by hackers since I have sensitive files.

OneDrive has Personal Vault, which offers additional protection for files, but free version is limited to 3 files, though you can just zip any folder and it counts as 1 file. Google has nothing like that, all files can be "easily" accessible by Everyone if set per file permissions.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/onedrive/personal-vault

But third party services offers something called zero knowledge encryption, so even they can not see the content. IceDrive 10GB Free.

Icedrive - Secure Encrypted Cloud Storage

Introducing Icedrive client-side encrypted cloud storage. With zero-knowledge, end-to-end encryption, Icedrive is the most secure cloud storage solution available.

icedrive.net

22ww · Oct 1, 2026

TairikuOkami said:
OneDrive has Personal Vault, which offers additional protection for files, but free version is limited to 3 files, though you can just zip any folder and it counts as 1 file. Google has nothing like that, all files can be "easily" accessible by Everyone if set per file permissions.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/onedrive/personal-vault

But third party services offers something called zero knowledge encryption, so even they can not see the content. IceDrive 10GB Free.

Icedrive - Secure Encrypted Cloud Storage

Introducing Icedrive client-side encrypted cloud storage. With zero-knowledge, end-to-end encryption, Icedrive is the most secure cloud storage solution available.

icedrive.net

Appreciate that about IceDrive, I'll look into that. But would you trust that with sensitive info about your taxes and documents with your personal info such as ssn, dob, etc?

TairikuOkami · Oct 1, 2026

22ww said:
But would you trust that with sensitive info about your taxes and documents with your personal info such as ssn, dob, etc?

I always encrypt files and file names, before uploading anything sensitive online.
Triple encryption - office encryption, 7-zip encryption, zero knowledge encryption.

22ww · Oct 1, 2026

TairikuOkami said:
I always encrypt files and file names, before uploading anything sensitive online.
Triple encryption - office encryption, 7-zip encryption, zero knowledge encryption.

Someone on reddit mentioned that 7zip encryption is easy to hack. What do you think?

TairikuOkami · Oct 1, 2026

22ww said:
Someone on reddit mentioned that 7zip encryption is easy to hack. What do you think?

Thus multiple encryptions using multiple methods are required.

An encrypted ZIP file can have two correct passwords — here's why

Password-protected ZIP archives are common means of compressing and sharing sets of files—from sensitive documents to malware samples to even malware (phishing "invoices" in emails). But, did you know it is possible for an encrypted ZIP file to have two correct passwords, with both producing the...

www.bleepingcomputer.com

cheaterslick · Oct 1, 2026

Marie SWE said:
If i have super sensitive data so the world is going to end if it becomes a future data leak. If i want to encrypt my Data using Bitlocker before i upload it to OneDrive, so it will be in an encrypted state on OneDrive. How would you solve that?

If I may interject here, I would never use Bitlocker to encrypt super sensitive data like that.

Use something like VeraCrypt to do that, instead. You've used it before so you know what I'm talking about, but for others out there who wouldn't know.

VeraCrypt - Free Open source disk encryption with strong security for the Paranoid

VeraCrypt is free open-source disk encryption software for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. In case an attacker forces you to reveal the password, VeraCrypt provides plausible deniability. In contrast to file encryption, data encryption performed by VeraCrypt is real-time (on-the-fly), automatic...

veracrypt.io

And no, I don't think everybody who uses it is some kind of paranoid. It's for those who want something safe & secure above all else, away from prying eyes.

Temporarily locate your data you want to encrypt to your desktop. Start using VeraCrypt to encrypt it on your desktop. Then after that's done, start uploading your VeraCrypted data from your desktop to the cloud. That's how I would do it.

So me personally, if I was using the cloud, I would never encrypt anything while it was already in there. I would always do it locally before the upload.

Is Google Drive better than Onedrive?

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