Solved Is OneDrive common to both of mu computers ?

I have an older Windows 11 computer and a new Windows 11 computer. Is OneDrive common to both of my computers? Will deleting the "Documents" folder on computer B's OneDrive cause the Documents folder of computer A to be deleted if I momentarily link computer A ? I have only 1 Microsoft account.

How many threads do you need about OneDrive?

pseymour said:

How many threads do you need about OneDrive?

I lost my documents folder

I intend to use two computers, both with Windows 11. I have no intention to use OneDrive. On my new computer I deleted the documents folder in OneDrive. This caused the documents folder to disappear on the new computer. This is a new computer that I have had no creative activity, so I did not...

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Minimizing the Waste of Time

I never intentionally used OneDrive but there is the possibility that I inadvertently deposited one or more files in the cloud many years ago. Anyway, on computer A, I inspected subfolders like OneDrive > MyName Personal > Pictures > Camera Roll and OneDrive > MyName Personal > Pictures >...

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Can I delete my Microsoft Account and still use Windows 11

I have a lot of problems avoiding OneDrive. I have an old Windows 11 computer and I somehow do not encounter OneDrive. I have a new Windows 11 computer where it keeps showing up even after unlinking. Can I delete my Microsoft account so that I can avoid seeing OneDrive now and forever ?

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I find OneDrive super scary after losing my whole Documents folder (on a new computer so not disastrous but potentially disastrous). Sorry if you don't like it but I have multiple questions so I made multiple threads.

Whether you use OneDrive or not, you should have backups of your data. One copy is only slightly better than zero copies.

H2ONaCl said:

Sorry if you don't like it but I have multiple questions so I made multiple threads.

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Against the rules.

KevTech said:

Against the rules.

View attachment 167254

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Multiple is not the same as duplicate. No rule was violated.

pseymour said:

Whether you use OneDrive or not, you should have backups of your data. One copy is only slightly better than zero copies.

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I have 4 or more backups at any given time. The backups are to external Flash drives A, B, C, and D. I rotate them. I control when the backups happen. I don't understand how to control risk with a single OneDrive backup. For example, suppose I delete something important and synch happened so effectively I have no backup. That's why I want to decide when backups happen and I want several. If OneDrive backups make sense I hope somebody explains it to me.

I started this backup system when Windows took ages to do a DVD backup and it did bizarre things like request me to insert a DVD of an older backup when I want to do a Non-Incremental backup. If it's incremental I understand it is necessary. If Non-Incremental there is no rational reason for Windows to want to touch the physical medium of an older backup. That's why I created my own system that never touches older backups (until I want to recycle the Flash drive for a new backup).

I think it took ages to do a backup because in those days I think it was also doing a backup of Windows and settings which is I believe a terrible thing to do because people are always messing up settings so they are making backups of crappy settings. Obviously there is no reason to backup Windows.

H2ONaCl said:

Multiple is not the same as duplicate. No rule was violated.

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Duplicate threads on the same stupid issue.

Regarding the question in this thread

Is OneDrive common to both of mu computers ?​

IF you use the same Microsoft Account on 2 computers, and IF both computers are linked to Onedrive and signed into Onedrive, and IF you have folder backup syncing enabled on both computers then the answer is YES, the folders/files you are syncing are in Onedrive and will show up on both devices. Changes and deletions in files made on one computer will sync and reflect on the other.

Depending on how much data you sync to the cloud, be aware that you have 5 gb of free onedrive storage included in your Microsoft account. This onedrive space is also used by your Outlook email. Exceeding your OneDrive storage limit prevents you from uploading, editing, or syncing new files, and freezes your account. Your existing files remain read-only, meaning you can download them but not edit them in the cloud. Critically, this also stops email flow in Outlook.com and can lead to permanent deletion after 6 months.

You can get additional storage by subscribing to one of the Microsoft 365 plans. With Microsoft 365 Basic, you can obtain 100GB of storage, while the Personal or Family subscription offers 1TB of cloud storage.

KevTech said:

Duplicate threads on the same stupid issue.

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I have multiple questions. Until glasskutters answer at 23:47 I had no answer for that question in the other threads.

glasskuter said:

Regarding the question in this thread

Is OneDrive common to both of mu computers ?​

IF you use the same Microsoft Account on 2 computers, and IF both computers are linked to Onedrive and signed into Onedrive, and IF you have folder backup syncing enabled on both computers then the answer is YES, the folders/files you are syncing are in Onedrive and will show up on both devices. Changes and deletions in files made on one computer will sync and reflect on the other.

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I find what you're saying hard to believe.

I'm not saying you're wrong but what you're saying is scandalous. It seems that Microsoft would not do something so scandalous. Bill Gates did hang out with Jeffrey Epstein but that's a different kind of scandal.

The reason I find this scandalous is because it poses huge consequences when OneDrive is prominently featured in the Windows installation program. For example, suppose on computer A you have data that took years to create and photos and video that are irreplaceable and it's in location c:\user\me\documents\directory1. Then you purchase computer B and the Windows setup program does not instruct you to create a new Microsoft account. Then you start putting files in c:\user\me\documents\directory1 but you change your mind and delete the directory because it's a new computer and you're comfortable with wiping it because you haven't done much yet. Now the same directory gets wiped out on the other computer. This is disastrous. It's scandalous that the Windows installation program does not warn you about this. It is scandalous that the program does not try to convince you to use a different Microsoft account. The OneDrive system is reckless by design. OneDrive is malicious malpractice.

I very nearly lost my data and I would have had to restore from my Flash drive. Most other people would have suffered a disaster if they relied upon Microsoft for backup advice. Advice which heavily pushes OneDrive.

Believe it or not, that's the way onedrive works.
I suggest you watch some of these Ask Leo videos covering the different aspects of Onedrive.. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ask+leo+onedrive

The KEY thing to know is When you set up a Microsoft account , user folders for Desktop, Documents, Pictures, Videos default location is Onedrive. OneDrive automatic backup is enabled by default
Example path C:\Users\Username\OneDrive\Documents. You can prove the default folder path by right clicking on your user folder, select properties, location tab.

There is one critical missunderstanding in your reasoning.
OneDrive is NOT a backup tool, it's a file sync utility. When you enable it, it'll happly replicate any changes you do in one location in all others, including deletions. This is normal and expected from such tools. The goal it follows is to make all connected folders equal, no matter what.
So it doesn't protects from accidental or malicious file modification or deletions, since such an action would replicate to other places, preventing using those as backups.

To be a real backup tool we must consider things like retention periods, number of previous copies available and destination backup media. OneDrive does nothing of that, in fact it's designed to work with live data.

Alejandro85 said:

To be a real backup tool we must consider things like retention periods, number of previous copies available and destination backup media. OneDrive does nothing of that, in fact it's designed to work with live data

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OneDrive has versioning and a recycle bin.

Alejandro85 said:

So it doesn't protects from accidental or malicious file modification or deletions...........................

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Following on from what Mr Seymour said, OneDrive retains many previous versions of files. A couple of days ago I happened to notice that my clients database is currently showing as having 522 previous versions. MS 365 subscribers also benefit from automatic and complete ransomware recovery.

Alejandro85 said:

There is one critical missunderstanding in your reasoning.
OneDrive is NOT a backup tool, it's a file sync utility. When you enable it, it'll happly replicate any changes you do in one location in all others, including deletions. This is normal and expected from such tools. The goal it follows is to make all connected folders equal, no matter what.
So it doesn't protects from accidental or malicious file modification or deletions, since such an action would replicate to other places, preventing using those as backups.

To be a real backup tool we must consider things like retention periods, number of previous copies available and destination backup media. OneDrive does nothing of that, in fact it's designed to work with live data.

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OneDrive in fact does have file versioning, as well as a recycle bin that stores deleted files for a period of 30 days. Here is an example of a spreadsheet that i update on a regular basis, I can see pretty much every file save I have made over the past 2 years. And I can restore back to any of them.



You are looking at OneDrive like a Raid 1 Mirror of 2 hard drives on your computer. A change to 1, is an immediate change to the other with nothing more or less. OneDrive however offers a whole lot more, as shown above.

I argue the semantics of the use of the word "Backup" here. But I feel that OneDrive is more of a backup than a lot of people give it credit for. And just having a source file in 2 different destinations does qualify as a backup in the event that you hard drive were to physically fail. It's not a true backup software in the traditional sense of the word.....but I think it does qualify as a backup.