One drive (me mad)

spurdog1

 ld say I would have average computer skills for a retired, but i have just bought a new HP laptop, after my Dell failed two weeks outside warranty.

The new HP has onedrive set up, and it is driving me mad already. I presume it was bought in to save space on ones laptop.  Unfortunately i am now finding 1-3 copies of the self same file, sometimes defaulting to onedrive, sometimes not.
the latest i saved a file yesterday, its not in "recent", its not on my laptop, and i am trying to stop onedrive. some of my folders are subsectioned for example documents/latest/onedrive/family.

How do i get out this fix?

rolandka

spurdog1 said:

 ld say I would have average computer skills for a retired, but i have just bought a new HP laptop, after my Dell failed two weeks outside warranty.

The new HP has onedrive set up, and it is driving me mad already. I presume it was bought in to save space on ones laptop.  Unfortunately i am now finding 1-3 copies of the self same file, sometimes defaulting to onedrive, sometimes not.
the latest i saved a file yesterday, its not in "recent", its not on my laptop, and i am trying to stop onedrive. some of my folders are subsectioned for example documents/latest/onedrive/family.

How do i get out this fix?

OneDrive could be very handy to sync files to cloud, or across multiple computers and phones. I think you get 5Gb storage with the free subscription so it's not really for saving space unless you subscribe to a paid plan. 

You need to Unlink your PC from OneDrive. You can also Uninstall the OneDrive app.

There is tutorial on Microsot's site here -> https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/office/turn-off-disable-or-uninstall-onedrive-f32a17ce-3336-40fe-9c38-6efb09f944b0

I would not be able to explain it more clearly so I hope it's helpful. Let me know

km1500

go to settings and go to apps then go to onedrive and uninstall it

Vitor

>I presume it was bought in to save space on ones laptop<

Not really, it's a backup and sync service for your devices. By default it's syncing the contents of the folders Documents, Pictures with up to 5GB of free cloud storage (more is available on subscription). Could we worth taking time to understand OneDrive Personal before removing it and relying on keeping your documents only on the laptop.

A Beginner's Guide To Microsoft One Drive | HP® Tech Takes

>i am now finding 1-3 copies of the self same file<

You're probably seeing files in the original laptop directory and the synced files as File Explorer shows you the content of OneDrive cloud store. 

flaneurs_lobster

When I set up my latest W11 laptop I tried to be clever with backup & sync using both OneDrive and Google Drive - ended up with both services trying to back up each other and consuming most of the PCs resources to do so.

It's kind of OK now but I'm still not entirely sure of the source of a file when I search and retrieve it.

As ever, the most important thing to do is give documents and files meaningful, long names (and a date) when you create or save them - it's useless to have 20 documents named "Terms and Conditions" or "Invoice 1234".

Tassie_Devil

I ended up reinstalling Windows to avoid onedrive. Just back up any files you want to keep and reinstall windows using the Media Creation tool from Microsoft, and use a local account during the installation process. 

https://www.makeuseof.com/windows-11-disable-remove-onedrive/

spurdog1

Thanks for all feedback. Although I wanted a little duplication, such as a photo with "Janet and John" also a copy "John and Janet", so i could find any variance.
checking on duplication it advised me i had six times as many files as needed. It would have taken me months to delete. Now I have deleted by the "duplication cleaner". Unfortunately the files were everywhere. I had to spend time putting the right file in its correct place. A nightmare.

I put this only as a warning to all. My files are now under my control, on my external drive.

PS save files on one drive to a USB or similar, BEFORE disconnecting onedrive

daveyjp

And also be wary of autosave in 365 which sneeks itself back on even if you turn it off.  Open  file, change it, realise its the wrong file you are changing so close it then realise when it closes immediately it has autosaved.

Neil_Jones

Tassie_Devil said:

I ended up reinstalling Windows to avoid onedrive. Just back up any files you want to keep and reinstall windows using the Media Creation tool from Microsoft, and use a local account during the installation process. 

https://www.makeuseof.com/windows-11-disable-remove-onedrive/

Appreciate this is late now but Why?

You don't need to reinstall to "avoid" onedrive.  Just create the local account in Windows and the end result is exactly the same.

spurdog1

an update, with a question on my dell inspirron. You may recall i wiped the memory before sending it away.

This drive c indicates 53.6 gb free of 118GB.

You guessed!!! if i've wiped it, why is it "half full"? I've found some screenshots, but all my files appear deleted. nSo, what takes up half the space of the c drive, it's RAM is 4 gb.Is there a way of looking into "c" to identify what is taking up the space?

Many thanks

flaneurs_lobster

spurdog1 said:

an update, with a question on my dell inspirron. You may recall i wiped the memory before sending it away.

This drive c indicates 53.6 gb free of 118GB.

You guessed!!! if i've wiped it, why is it "half full"? I've found some screenshots, but all my files appear deleted. nSo, what takes up half the space of the c drive, it's RAM is 4 gb.Is there a way of looking into "c" to identify what is taking up the space?

Many thanks

Not sure that you mentioned sending anything away, wiped or otherwise. Don't think it's the memory that you "wiped".

Do you mean that you deleted the contents of the c: drive on the Dell before sending it to be repaired? How did you do this if it was broken?

And now you have it back after repair and the c: drive is half full?