Backup - OneDrive Issues

andrew129260 · Mar 1, 2024

Winuser said:
Reminds me of my parents trying to use the TV and Cable remotes. I don't know how many times my parents couldn't watch TV because the wrong button got pushed by mistake. They would have to wait for me to fix it. Because the remotes were confusion to them I guess they should have given up watching TV.

I mean using a remote is a basic thing. You shouldnt need to show them how to do it multiple times.

Again my car analogy holds. If you know the basics that is what I expect. In that scenario I wouldnt expect them to know how to take the tv apart or go into the advanced hidden settings menu. But using the remote and the basics settings they should know how to use and navigate. I will happily show them how to if they need help, but if they refuse to learn and just want you to "fix it" all the time that is on them. Especially when there is nothing to fix and it's just something they did.

If someone owned a car and constantly called you over to show them how to start it, that would be a bit ridiculous don't you think?

I think people in general tolerate too many people throwing up their hands and saying I can't do this. You can do basic things. Maybe not advanced things and thats fine. But the basic things are basic for a reason.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
In any case, onedrive doing this without being fully transparent to the user can be confusing for sure. Offering the users the choice and explaining the local vs the cloud folder would be a good idea. (Even though most users probably wouldnt read it and just close out of it, like they do with every prompt.)

Maybe even offer a feature like mirror mode and regular backup mode. Where mirror mode syncs all changes constantly and moves the documents folder the way it does now, and backup mode just simply backs up the folders to onedrive and nothing else. I think that would be an improvement.

Also, good shout out @

glasskuter

Winuser · Mar 1, 2024

andrew129260 said:
I mean using a remote is a basic thing. You shouldnt need to show them how to do it multiple times.

I know you probably don't mean it that way but that comes off as an insult to my parents' intelligence.

andrew129260 · Mar 1, 2024

Winuser said:
I know you probably don't mean it that way but that comes off as an insult to my parents' intelligence.

I definitely did not mean it that way. My parents did the same thing. They acted like using a new tv was some alien technology. I taught them once very thoroughly answering all questions going through the basics etc. But then a couple months later they accidently changed the input and got confused even though we went through this. They called me over to fix it. I said this is something basic, I know you can figure it out. And they did. It took a day or so but they got it. And they admitted to me later it wasn't that hard. That they made it harder than it needed to be. And now I no longer have to help them with the tv or other basic electronics. Because I gave them the basic skills to google and learn on their own, instead of having the mentality of i don't know how this works, so I give up. When its a household appliance that has been around forever. It's learned helplessness that is all it is. They didn't grow up with the tech or the gadget so they act like they cannot learn it because they didn't grow up with it. And that's just a poor mentality to have.

Sometimes the best way to help someone is to give them the skills to succeed, instead of doing it for them.

pparks1 · Mar 1, 2024

glasskuter said:
We've beaten this subject to death. Why can't we all agree to disagree on whether onedrive is the best thing since sliced bread or the spawn of satan, refrain from singing it's praises or damning it to hell, and just answer a poster's questions the best we can when we are asked. We're not helping with this constant back and forth. All it does is add more confusion to an already confused poster.

Well, it's an internet forum. All of the back and forth is on-topic and everybody is remaining civil with each other in the post. I have no qualms with the constant back and forth....it helps to enlighten others and force them to think about things in a manner differently than they originally approached the technology. It may never change a persons mind, but if it provokes thought.....what's the harm?

glasskuter · Mar 1, 2024

pparks1 said:
but if it provokes thought.....what's the harm?

The harm is the distraction for the OP who has asked for help with a specific matter. Sharing of opinions, educating in the ins and outs, and provoking thought is a good thing. I never said it wasn't. But it should be done in the right place such as an open discussion thread, not forcing a person in trouble to read through 7 pages(so far) of stuff in his own thread hoping he'll find a solution. We ran this OP off 5 days ago. We should concentrate on the problem first. Cuss and discuss afterward or separately..Since Onedrive is the most controversial aspect of Windows these days, I think there should be a sticky thread for open discussion.

It's not like there haven't been countless threads with the same arguments on both sides. Every single thread on onedrive ends up the same way.

And, hey, I'm not pointing any fingers, but looking at it from a reader's perspective. I'm as guilty as the next one for throwing in my 2 cents when it's not always helpful to the problem. I am trying to do better though to keep things more cohesive, but it's hard for an opinionated septuagenarian old broad. I'm a work still in progress.
:wink:

Edwin · Mar 1, 2024

@kodakjack
I see you're back..., I wouldn't expect you to read through all this cruft, but..., where do you stand right now with your situation?

kodakjack · Mar 1, 2024

Sorry to be gone a few days. I couldn't get the tutorials and suggestions to work with my limited skills, so I took my machine to a local shop. The solution was simple, but the guy had to admit that he had to think about it for a good long while before it came to him. Even though I uninstalled One Drive because I got sick of the prompts to buy space, there was still a folder on the C-Drive for it. The files I was concerned about were in that folder. He simply took them out of the One Drive folder and put them in mine. Simple, but confusing and frustrating. None of the files have One Drive in their path anymore.
Thanks for all of the help everyone.

Edwin · Mar 1, 2024

@kodakjack
Good to hear!!!

andrew129260 · Mar 1, 2024

Yeah in my post 109 at the bottom I tried to direct you to that I am sorry we ended up rambling so much.

Glad you got it fixed @kodakjack

For anyone finding this thread through google in the future (god help you)

here is the fix:

Please try logging into onedrive website and look there to see if your files are there if any are missing.

As for removing the onedrive folder association with the files, as the leo video suggested from youtube that someone posted, exit onedrive down by the clock (system tray) and then move the documents out of the onedrive documents folder and move them back to c\users\yourusername\documents. Also for example, with your pictures : C:\Users\John\OneDrive\Pictures\Ethan10 move these files to C:\Users\John\Pictures\

This will then remove the onedrive association with the files.

pparks1 · Mar 1, 2024

kodakjack said:
Sorry to be gone a few days. I couldn't get the tutorials and suggestions to work with my limited skills, so I took my machine to a local shop. The solution was simple, but the guy had to admit that he had to think about it for a good long while before it came to him. Even though I uninstalled One Drive because I got sick of the prompts to buy space, there was still a folder on the C-Drive for it. The files I was concerned about were in that folder. He simply took them out of the One Drive folder and put them in mine. Simple, but confusing and frustrating. None of the files have One Drive in their path anymore.
Thanks for all of the help everyone.

Glad you got it fixed. I don't use the standard libraries for Documents/Music/Pictures, instead I just either save stuff directly to my OneDrive location in the folders I created there, or I save it elsewhere in other folders I created.

I keep some things in OneDrive, and for other things, I don't keep it in OneDrive. And some things go into my personal vault in OneDrive. Guess I'm not an all my eggs in one basket kinda guy.

TraderGary · Mar 1, 2024

pparks1 said:
I keep some things in OneDrive, and for other things, I don't keep it in OneDrive. And some things go into my personal vault in OneDrive. Guess I'm not an all my eggs in one basket kinda guy.

I'm not an all my eggs in one basket kinda guy either. I backup using more than just OneDrive.

My backup strategy utilizes 3 totally different methods utilized simultaneously, one of which must be offsite.
1. Microsoft OneDrive
2. Microsoft File History
3. Macrium Reflect Images

TraderGary · Mar 1, 2024

@kodakjack, Welcome back and glad you've solved your problem.

It's certainly a wakeup call to implement a backup strategy if you don't have one!

Edwin · Mar 1, 2024

@kodakjack got lucky! My files got vaporized..., everywhere!
OneDrive should not be touching the originals in the User music folder! It's just wrong!
And, I don't give a damn what anybody says...,
#1 Call me an idiot, but, it's way too easy to make this mistake,
#2 The program has a major fault for even being able to make this mistake!

TraderGary · Mar 1, 2024

@Edwin, I didn't see in your video where you looked in your OneDrive folder. That's where your files would have been. Unless of course you also zapped the files in your OneDrive folder and then your experience would have been expected.

Watch the AskLeo video carefully again.

I've used OneDrive every day for the past 15 years and I've never lost a file.

Wynona · Mar 1, 2024

Winuser said:
You do know that for people that don't understand OneDrive it is .......Confusing.

It's even confusing when you do Understand it!

Edwin · Mar 1, 2024

TraderGary said:
@Edwin, I didn't see in your video where you looked in your OneDrive folder.

Let me explain what's going on in that little clip...
• In the upper right hand corner is my User/Music folder with my 2 mp3's that have been in there since way before OneDrive was installed. The empty Playlists folder got created there, as well as everywhere else, as soon as OneDrive was installed and signed into.
• In the lower left hand corner is the Desktop(Proper)/Music folder, which, of course, is a pointer folder to the original User/Music folder.
• In the upper left hand corner is the newly created Personal/OneDrive/Music folder

As soon as I decided to Backup the Music folder, everything synced and replicated itself everywhere, as you can see.
When I unchecked Make all files available in the Choose folders dialog and clicked OK, everything disappeared, from everywhere!
The entire Music folder from Personal/OneDrive got sent to the Recycle Bin, that's why that upper left window just completely disappeared.
All other files/folders from the other windows vanished into thin air!
As for looking in the OneDrive folder for the files, that's just the thing, there no longer is a OneDrive folder, it got instantly vaporized along with everything else! You can see that in the clip.

Incidentally, the Choose folders dialog did not have that warning at the bottom as @pparks1 pointed out in Post #86

The thing I'm trying to express here is, OneDrive should not be nuking your original files inside your original User/Music folder! Create folders and copy/replicate files anywhere else and nuke them, I don't care! Just don't touch my original files! They do not have any business nuking my original files!
I apologize if I can't explain it more clearly, but, unless I'm just stupid, that seems to be a major fault in the program!

Dru2 · Mar 1, 2024

kodakjack said:
...so I took my machine to a local shop. The solution was simple, but the guy had to admit that he had to think about it for a good long while before it came to him.

Hmmm

pparks1 said:
Well, it's an internet forum. All of the back and forth is on-topic and everybody is remaining civil with each other in the post. I have no qualms with the constant back and forth....it helps to enlighten others and force them to think about things in a manner differently than they originally approached the technology. It may never change a persons mind, but if it provokes thought.....what's the harm?

glasskuter said:
The harm is the distraction for the OP who has asked for help with a specific matter.

It only becomes a distraction when some provide false misleading information that needs correcting. Or you get those that proclaim they'd never use the app and go into a diatribe about why it's worthless. That's the distraction

It wouldn't be a distraction if some actually answered the question as is, instead of taking the opportunity to bash it and Microsoft

At any rate, to the OP... glad you got your issue resolved.

Peace

TraderGary · Mar 1, 2024

Dru2 said:
Hmmm

It only becomes a distraction when some provide false misleading information that needs correcting. Or you get those that proclaim they'd never use the app and go into a diatribe about why it's worthless. That's the distraction

It wouldn't be a distraction if some actually answered the question as is, instead of taking the opportunity to bash it and Microsoft

At any rate, to the OP... glad you got your issue resolved.

Peace

Bingo! This ^^^^

Edwin · Mar 1, 2024

TraderGary said:
... your experience would have been expected.

Not expected in the least, and I would imagine the same applies for thousands of other unsuspecting noobs!

TraderGary said:
Watch the AskLeo video carefully again.

I did, as I pointed out the other day, in his video at 16:50, I was not blessed with the ability to just simply drag the files back into the native folder!

TraderGary said:
I've used OneDrive every day for the past 15 years and I've never lost a file.

Yeah, but you're an experienced user and wise enough not to enable Backup!

TraderGary · Mar 1, 2024

I think what happened was that in the dialog box you chose not to show the files locally. In your video, you didn't show the OneDrive offsite cloud folder, where the files still should have been.

And you're right. Since I've been using OneDrive as a real-time data backup for 15 years, I don't use the new backup feature and never turned it ON.

Backup - OneDrive Issues

Well-known member

glasskuter​

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computers

aka Mama Glass

My Computers

♦ ♦

My Computers

Member

My Computer

♦ ♦

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computers

Stock Market Wizard

My Computer

Stock Market Wizard

My Computer

♦ ♦

My Computers

Stock Market Wizard

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computers

♦ ♦

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computers

Stock Market Wizard

My Computer

♦ ♦

My Computers

Stock Market Wizard

My Computer

Similar threads

glasskuter