Seeking a second opinion... Is OneDrive malicious malpractice ?

TraderGary · 2026-08-07T15:37:46-0400

I've used OneDrive with full confidence for more than 20 years. The thought that Microsoft would have any interest in stealing my files or photos is ludicrous.

TairikuOkami · 2026-08-07T15:45:51-0400

FrancoDT said:
I'd be curious to know if most average OneDrive users can get by with the free 5GB of storage

It is OK, but Google and MS has started to include backups of emails, photos, apps data.
$20 is definitely worth it, it also increases Outlook's security a bit, by checking up links.

Advanced Outlook.com security for Microsoft 365 subscribers | Microsoft Support

Learn more about the advanced security features for Outlook.com that come with an Office 365 Home or Office 365 Personal subscription.

support.microsoft.com

TraderGary · 2026-08-07T15:48:22-0400

FrancoDT said:
I'd be curious to know if most average OneDrive users can get by with the free 5GB of storage or if most pay for additional storage. I don't use it so don't know how fast it fills up before you start losing data if you don't upgrade. I looked up the pricing plan out of curiosity:

Free Tier: 5 GB of storage. It includes web versions of Word and Excel but fills up almost instantly if you back up photos or phone data.

Microsoft 365 Basic: $1.99/month (or ~$19.99/year). This expands your pool to 100 GB and removes ads from Outlook.

Microsoft 365 Personal: $6.99/month (or $69.99/year). This jumps your storage up to 1 TB (1,000 GB) and unlocks desktop Office apps.

Microsoft 365 Family: $9.99/month (or $99.99/year). This provides 6 TB total storage space, allocated as 1 TB each for up to 6 family members.

I subscribe to Microsoft 365 family plan for $99.99 per year. Each family member gets their own copy of the Microsoft Office Suite (always up to date) and 1 TB of OneDrive. That's an amazing bargain.

FrancoDT · 2026-08-07T15:58:03-0400

TairikuOkami said:
It is OK, but Google and MS has started to include backups of emails, photos, apps data.
$20 is definitely worth it, it also increases Outlook's security a bit, by checking up links.

Advanced Outlook.com security for Microsoft 365 subscribers | Microsoft Support

Learn more about the advanced security features for Outlook.com that come with an Office 365 Home or Office 365 Personal subscription.

support.microsoft.com

TraderGary said:
I subscribe to Microsoft 365 family plan for $99.99 per year. Each family member gets their own copy of the Microsoft Office Suite (always up to date) and 1 TB of OneDrive. That's an amazing bargain.

See, I don't use MS 365 (or Outlook) either as I don't need or want either. My machines aren't work critical machines needed for important job functions. I'm just an old retired guy playing with toys and browsing the web. I'm guessing from these responses that for most users 5GB doesn't suffice without data lose however. Don't get me started on my dislike of subscription software, I gave up Macrium X for that reason and switched to Hasleo Backup.

TairikuOkami · 2026-08-07T16:16:02-0400

FrancoDT said:
I'm guessing from these responses that for most users 5GB doesn't suffice without data lose however.

Definitely not, especially since MS forces data into OneDrive. Like it forces Desktop, I hate that, it takes some work to persuade it not to, but commonly used Folders can not be disabled from syncing at all, so the subscription is not really optional, unless the user changes folders and no, moving Documents folder will not work, it is linked to OneDrive, no matter what. The user has to use separate folders.

TraderGary · 2026-08-07T16:18:30-0400

FrancoDT said:
See, I don't use MS 365 (or Outlook) either as I don't need or want either. My machines aren't work critical machines needed for important job functions. I'm just an old retired guy playing wIith toys and browsing the web. I'm guessing from these responses that for most users 5GB doesn't suffice without data lose however. Don't get me started on my dislike of subscription software, I gave up Macrium X for that reason and switched to Hasleo Backup.

I'm an old guy too, but I still enjoy my trading. We differ in how we feel about subscriptions. If a subscription gives me value for what I pay, I subscribe. I didn't give up my Macrium Reflect X. :wink:

FrancoDT · 2026-08-07T16:25:57-0400

TraderGary said:
I'm an old guy too, but I still enjoy making a nice income trading. We differ in how we feel about subscriptions. If a subscription gives me value for what I pay, I subscribe. I didn't give up my Macrium Reflect X.

That's just it for me, I don't like renting software so to speak no matter how good it is. I'll buy software if I really like it and I'll put up with some ad's for good free software but recurring subscriptions just make me cringe.

pseymour · 2026-08-07T16:27:33-0400

TraderGary said:
I've used OneDrive with full confidence for more than 20 years. The thought that Microsoft would have any interest in stealing my files or photos is ludicrous.

No you haven't.

Marie SWE · 2026-08-07T16:30:11-0400

cheaterslick said:
Given all the problems with it that you are reading about in these forums, I don't see how you came to that conclusion.

Another option would be to leave it off Windows 11 in it's entirety and offer OneDrive through the Microsoft Store as an add-in module. For those who want it, that is. Otherwise the less savvy will continue to come on these forums, frustrated looking for endless 'back-up' answers.

Yeah..... I said that in another thread.. Windows should be a bare-boned OS like it was in the past and you have to install what apps and functions you need/want.

You should not spend more time uninstalling and deactivating things, then you actually spend on installing things you do want and need. :ffs:

And now with the windows store it have become easy to install software so its easy even for non-tech people. In the past you had to go to every website and download the installer and you had to know where to find things... not nowadays.. so there is no reason for windows being so bloated as it is sooooo easy with MS-store.

pparks1 said:
Most people who hate it, havent used it or just hate the cloud in general. Most of these "problems" are just assumptions about how its gonna work or what-ifs.

Having it on, means for average joe that files are safe in another location so when computer dies, is lost or stolen....files just come back like magic.

I dont hate it.. in a post on another page i did gave MS an A for the effort..... but an F for the bad execution.
Onedrive and all online functions should be an opt-in function.
and nowadays with the OOBE and just have a series of opt in switches, then even a non-tech first time windows user know what to opt in if they want it.

TraderGary said:
OneDrive is actually built-in to the operating system and is an integral part of Windows itself. Even if you only have a local account and have never had a Microsoft Account, OneDrive functionality is still built into the OS.

Really?... can you have/use OneDrive without register an MS-account?... i didn't know that. That's good if so.

cheaterslick said:
That's right. I don't. And I've never made any bones about it, either.

If I can see it then that means someone else can, too.

Well that's good to know. What might not be valuable to you, might be valuable to someone else. And since they’re not paying me for it, then why give it to them. That's my attitude.

There is actually cloud storage that is total end-to-end encrypted, so only you have access to the data.. Not even the company that has physical access can hand over the data in readable form even if the police has a warrant for it.

TraderGary · 2026-08-07T16:35:00-0400

pseymour said:
No you haven't.

View attachment 178910

You're right! I started with OneDrive 19 years ago when it was first called SkyDrive! Well, I've still used it for a long time. :wink:

TraderGary · 2026-08-07T16:38:48-0400

Marie SWE said:
Really?... can you have/use OneDrive without register an MS-account?... i didn't know that. That's good if so.

No, even though the functionality is coded into the OS, in order to use OneDrive, you must actually have a Microsoft Account.

gunrunnerjohn · 2026-08-07T16:40:21-0400

TraderGary said:
For me one of the most important features that OneDrive offers is a real-time offsite copy of all my data. From personal experience having one component of my backup strategy always offsite and always up to date in real time is vitally important. I never want to lose even a single byte of anything I'm working on throughout my day.

I use MEGA for the same purpose, it keeps a current offsite copy and has 30 day rollback of deleted files. I also have several daily on-site backups, both on a separate drive on this computer and my NAS. My NAS is in a semi-fireproof brick box in the basement, it has a high likelihood of surviving most any fire. Also, since my house is equipped with automatic sprinklers, the possibility of a total fire loss is pretty small. I sleep just fine at night.

pparks1 · 2026-08-07T16:40:24-0400

cheaterslick said:
That's right. I don't. And I've never made any bones about it, either.

If I can see it then that means someone else can, too.

Well that's good to know. What might not be valuable to you, might be valuable to someone else. And since they’re not paying me for it, then why give it to them. That's my attitude.

Nothing wrong with choosing to not use it. It doesn't make it bad, it's just not for you. And no matter what, you always have a choice to save your data in a location other than OneDrive.

Marie SWE · 2026-08-07T16:43:56-0400

TraderGary said:
No, even though the functionality is coded into the OS, in order to use OneDrive, you must actually have a Microsoft Account.

Okay

then i will keep my opinion that it should be installed if a person wants it

pparks1 · 2026-08-07T16:46:29-0400

FrancoDT said:
Microsoft 365 Family: $9.99/month (or $99.99/year). This provides 6 TB total storage space, allocated as 1 TB each for up to 6 family members.

I use the Microsoft 365 family plan. They did raise that to be $12.99 a month, or $129.99 for the year with CoPilot for the subscription owner. Through work, I get a 30% discount on that family plan, so I pay $90.91 a year.

To me, it's an absolute bargain. Myself, my wife, my son, my daughter, my dad and 1 friend each get 1TB of OneDrive cloud space with subscription. That alone makes it worth that money. I have all family members cell phone reels backing up to their OneDrive account. So, they are never running out of space on their phone from pictures and if they lose or damage their phone they never have to be concerned that any of their pictures or videos are gone. There is no other cloud company out there that I know of offering this much space for that price. Then, on top of all that, we each get to install Office on whatever we want.

gunrunnerjohn · 2026-08-07T16:48:53-0400

pparks1 said:
At work, we are all on laptops. We don't have a second logical drive on the laptop. In the event that the device dies and simply won't boot, getting to that data can be a real pain in the butt, if not impossible. We also cannot attach external drives and backup the data, that's all disabled and intentionally broken. Typically i would just copy everything off a working laptop to a network share, and then copy it back to a new drive. But i don't even have to bother doing that with OneDrive.

Agreed that reinstalling apps the time consuming part. I keep a pretty good document on what I have installed and what I have configured so I can put it back. But not having to worry about any of the data has been nice.

I don't live under those artificial restrictions, so it's no problem for me.

gunrunnerjohn · 2026-08-07T16:50:28-0400

pparks1 said:
I use the Microsoft 365 family plan. They did raise that to be $12.99 a month, or $129.99 for the year with CoPilot for the subscription owner. Through work, I get a 30% discount on that family plan, so I pay $90.91 a year.

To me, it's an absolute bargain. Myself, my wife, my son, my daughter, my dad and 1 friend each get 1TB of OneDrive cloud space with subscription. That alone makes it worth that money. I have all family members cell phone reels backing up to their OneDrive account. So, they are never running out of space on their phone from pictures and if they lose or damage their phone they never have to be concerned that any of their pictures or videos are gone. There is no other cloud company out there that I know of offering this much space for that price. Then, on top of all that, we each get to install Office on whatever we want.

One does wonder if it's such a good deal, what does Microsoft gain out of the deal.

pparks1 · 2026-08-07T16:51:56-0400

FrancoDT said:
Don't get me started on my dislike of subscription software, I gave up Macrium X for that reason and switched to Hasleo Backup.

I have no inherent dislike in subscription software, as long as it provides value to me. For OneDrive alone, I see plenty of value in Microsoft 365. I cannot find 6TB of cloud storage space for my family for under $129 a year from anybody else. 6TB is $30 a month from Apple, for 1 user. Google 2TB is $119 a year for 1 user. Dropbox is $16.99 a month for 6 users sharing 2TB.

BunnyJ · 2026-08-07T17:01:35-0400

H2ONaCl said:
I need to draw attention to something so I am posting this link to a conversation because I do not have the expertise to evaluate what I've been told in this other thread. This is important so I need a second opinion. If the information given to me in the other thread is correct, then in my opinion OneDrive is malicious malpractice. You can post your (second) opinion in the other thread, please. It's better to keep it all in the same place. You don't need to read the whole thread. Please just scroll down to where I talk about scandal and malicious malpractice. Thank you for putting more eyeballs on this important question. I am incredulous so I really appreciate the eyeballs. (Sorry for the typo in the title of the linked thread but I can't fix a typo in a title.)

Is OneDrive common to both of mu computers ?

Simple, if you don't trust it or any cloud storage don't use them. I use one but I also encrypt the files/data.

pparks1 · 2026-08-07T17:06:41-0400

Marie SWE said:
Edit:
How stupid was MS when they put in a backdoor to get around bitlocker.. sure it might make some people happy if they hadn't written down the key.. But encryption is supposed to be unrecoverable if you slip up or the device get stolen.

Microsoft didn't build in a backdoor, but a vulnerability was discovered (CVE-2026-45585) which allows somebody with physical access to your device to bypass Bitlocker via the Windows recovery environment. This takes advantage of the WinRE's trusted relationship with the TPM module. This vulnerability wasn't written by Microsoft to provide them with access to your data.

Marie SWE said:
How stupid is it to have the encryption key in the hands of a company that can be ordered to hand over the key.
How stupid is it that the data in the cloud isn't encrypted so MS can read the data. If they get a data-breach and someone get clear access to their servers. Then they can get to the data.

It's a convenience versus a security tradeoff. Imagine how many non-technical people could lose all of their data because they don't have their bitlocker recovery key stored somewhere.

What's a more likely scenario
1). Your laptop is lost or stolen and a their manages to log in or take out the hard drive and harvest all of your data.

2). The local police show up at Microsoft demanding that they turn over the bitlocker recovery key that is stored in your account to decrypt your data.

BTW: You can remove the bitlocker recover key from your account if you like to do so.

Seeking a second opinion... Is OneDrive malicious malpractice ?

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