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Windows users keep losing files to OneDrive, and many don't know why (www.techspot.com)
submitted 9 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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When Windows users suddenly discover that their files have vanished from their desktops after interacting with OneDrive, the issue often stems from how Microsoft's cloud service integrates with the operating system. The automatic, near-invisible shift to cloud-based storage has triggered strong reactions from users who find the feature unintuitive and, in some cases, destructive to their local files.

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[–] 38 points 9 months ago (28 children)

Happened to me, too. Now I just ignore OneDrive entirely. I don't think Microsoft understands what cloud storage is supposed to be used for. If I delete something from the cloud, I should still have it locally on my PC. The fact that this isn't the case means essentially, that OneDrive isn't actually a cloud service. They're trying to get you to pay a subscription fee to use your own hard drive. You know, the one you're already using for free. I wonder why that isn't taking off? 🤔

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  • [–] 7 points 9 months ago (4 children)

    onedrive is even more intrusive than google drive.

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  • [–] 4 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    I still haven't forgiven google for hijacking the g:/ drive letter. I was using that letter already!

    Not that it matters to me anymore since I use Linux now, but still.

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  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago* (2 children)

    I still prefer them hijacking a particular drive letter to Microsoft's approach of not even using a drive at all

    Yes thank you so much Microsoft for making every single employee's file path different when we're trying to send each other the location of files, all of them within unnecessary multiple levels at the start (inevitably resulting in file path too long issues) because the default installation is c users user documents OneDrive

    this is actually one way that I see which of my new hires actually read the fucking onboarding document and followed the instructions. One of the first steps is "unlink your OneDrive account and set up a OneDrive folder in the root of one of your drives instead" (with actual instructions on how to do that). two out of three new hires without fail will send me a link in their first week that points to c users. It's a nice litmus test for who is going to be useless and/or a pita

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    Regardless of which is better, I had mine configured exactly how I wanted it and they changed it without my consent and broke my system because of it in a way that I previously thought wasn't possible.

    It would have been fine if it was a setting that I could enable and configure myself to my liking.

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago

    yep, it's absolutely infuriating that they do that shit. you do some work around to make shit actually function, and then they just go change it on you without actually adding the functionality you needed

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  • [–] -1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (9 children)

    OneDrive is for syncing files across devices. It's not a backup.

    Edit:

    Since there seems to be a lot of hate on my comment, allow me to explain.

    Backup software has a schedule, it has monitoring, it has alerting (email, SMS, ticket submission, etc), and checksumming. OneDrive frequently just shits the bed for whatever reason, often goes unnoticed in the corner, and users frequently miss it and nobody, not even IT, know. Not to mention it's riddled with bugs.

    Yes, you are copying files from point A to point B but it is not the same. If you rely on onedrive as a "backup" you're going to be disappointed at some point when you lose your files :)

    If you delete a file over here, then it disappears from over there. That's not a backup. On a real backup, if you delete files or lose them or whatever, you have days/weeks/months to go back on versions to restore.

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  • [–] 16 points 9 months ago

    The problem isn't one drive's purpose, it's that it's so shoveled into windows that people that have no idea what it is use it accidentally then see files disappearing. It's unintuitive shovelware with terrible UX, a dreadful combination.

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  • [–] -1 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    Right, so how many files you have on your laptop do you also need on your phone? How many desktop does Microslop think the average person has? If cloud storage is actually only cloud syncing, is there a market?

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  • [–] 0 points 9 months ago* (1 child)

    Most of them. I use my files across my Windows laptop, desktop, tablet, and Windows 10 Mobile. The syncing allows me to have access no mater what device I am on. Just because you don't use this feature, does not mean it isn't useful.

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago*

    That's why I asked about the actual files. I know it's cool to have the ability but really it's typically only specific files, not every fucking thing you ever opened or saved. And please keep in mind people on Lemmy are not your average user. Most people have a phone and one other device at most

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  • [+] -7 points 9 months ago (10 children)

    Sorry, that makes no sense to me. These cloud sync apps are setup for mirroring. If you change one side, it's reflected on the other. This is just user error (or poor UI, lack of explanation on what delete does in the cloud)

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago

    But what's the point of it then?

    I guess if you have multiple computers you can access the files from either computers. But for people that just have one computer the whole thing seems kinda useless. And then MS forces people to use this product they have no need for by holding their computer ransom. People don't want their files on One Drive, they only have it because MS forced it upon them.

    This is like forcing a passenger to fly a 747 and then saying "well the plane crashed because of pilot error" and ignoring the fact that someone was forced some to be behind the controls of something they understand against their will.

    For a home user, a backup service or just a way to share files actually makes more sense than something that mindlessly syncs file actions, including deletes. One Drive could be useful if it were what people expect it to be. As it is, it's useless for most people, and bad on them for thinking MS One Drive was a useful product I guess.

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  • [–] -3 points 9 months ago (7 children)

    Don't point out people are misunderstanding the product, we're here to shit on the product for anything and everything

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  • [–] 11 points 9 months ago (6 children)

    To be fair when it's a product a person didn't ask for and the OS forced it on them, it's not unreasonable that they may not understand how it works and make mistakes.

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  • [–] 7 points 9 months ago

    Yeah, you can't yell at someone to RTFM when they didn't opt to use the product, and the "manual" is just a barrage of question on a Microsoft support forum where every answer goes to a Microsoft.learn page that hasn't been updated since 8.1.

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  • [–] -1 points 9 months ago* (4 children)

    It is unreasonable to assume you can delete a file from a sync app's cloud dashboard and not expect that the deletion would be synced to the device.

    I get that OneDrive is a mediocre product that gets forced on end users, but so many people turn their brains off and just try to kill it with fire instead of thinking through their actions before making rash decisions. Deleting it from the OneDrive directory is marginally less rash, but again, people delete files without validating the original is where they thought it was.

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    It is unreasonable to expect users to understand.

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  • [–] 0 points 9 months ago*

    It is unreasonable to expect users to understand.

    Or read, be it app popups or error messages. Or learn how to use tools that have been in place for years. Or take basic responsibility for their inability or unwillingness to learn and understand.

    At some point, saying "it's unreasonable to expect the user to understand something" is itself unreasonable. Maybe it's because I've been in IT for like 20 years, but I have minimal sympathy for people who choose not to understand the basic utilities that they have to interact with for their jobs that have been in place for a long time. At the very least, you should know how file management works if you're making files as part of your job, and that you don't just delete files from your system, especially important business files...

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago* (1 child)

    Read the article. That is not what is happening.

    This problem stems from the way OneDrive handles synchronization between the cloud and a user's local system. Disabling OneDrive Backup without explicitly restoring or relocating local copies can, in some cases, result in files being removed from both environments.

    Pargin noted that the only way to remove files from OneDrive without also deleting them from the local machine is to follow a detailed, step-by-step guide "There is no intuitive way to do it," he said, accusing Microsoft of deliberately burying the necessary controls deep within menus.

    It is a dark pattern, it is meant to scare or annoy the users into paying a subscription or leave the system as is. There's exactly one cloud service that deletes all files without warning as soon as it is disabled. There's only one service that deletes local files without telling the users, there's only one service that deletes both originals and cloud files when disabled, and it is only OneDrive. Every other service warns users and give grace periods for the users to download their data before deleting the files for good. It is absolutely not the user's fault.

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