Where are the Onedrive documents stored

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Where are the Onedrive documents stored

This is a follow on, as I was unable to continue a reply to Where are the Onedrive documents stored ? - Apple Community

For the past two years I have been battling Microsoft over their unauthorised shift of file structure in the OSX update. All my files were deleted and reinstalled, as others have shown, in the OSX update from an independent designated folder to a newly created folder within Library/Group Containers. I have no way of knowing what files were lost as Microsoft deleted the original folder with all my original files and it is impossible to do a correlation between what I have now and what I had before placing all my files in a OneDrive folder outside the system library. Recently I have been asking Microsoft again what folder I use to manually backup all my files from my macbook pro. They say the OneDrive folder in Library/Cloud Storage. That folder is 49kb so that is wrong information. That folder appears to be an alias but Apple Support would not confirm this. As far as I can see all the files still rest in /Users/username/Library/Group\ Containers/UBF8T346G9.OneDriveSyncClientSuite/OneDrive.noindex/OneDrive. Apple support after long and unusually poor assistance affirmed this is where the files are stored. Very unhappy with Microsoft as they offer very poor email support and no phone support. It would be good to find a way to collectively get better support over this as I am sure all OneDrive Mac users have suffered the same issues.

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 13.2

Posted on Mar 22, 2023 07:07 PM

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Answer 1

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totemas Author

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Mar 22, 2023 08:08 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thanks Grant. Great advice and I do use time machine and direct to disk backup. Five years life expectancy for an HDD if yar lucky!

My post is directed at those unfortunates, like me, who have been hijacked by OneDrive.

For the moment I am stuck with them. I just wrote Microsoft the following email:

Hi,

I have just had Apple Support assist verify where my OneDrive Folder stores all my files.

OneDrive is being duplicated in two locations –

/Users/[username]/Library/Cloud Storage/OneDrive

and

/Users/[username]/Library/Group\ Containers/UBF8T346G9.OneDriveSyncClientSuite/OneDrive.noindex/OneDrive

This is impossible as my MacBook Pro does not have sufficient disk space to have duplicate folders.

Would you please verify where all my OneDrive files on my Macbook Pro are being stored and can you tell me how to ensure I am not having that storage duplicated?

Cheers,

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Answer 2

Mar 22, 2023 07:24 PM in response to totemas

<< Recently I have been asking Microsoft again what folder I use to manually backup all my files from my macbook pro. >>

"On the cloud" is great for sharing photos, but is not a viable backup solution for everything you have. The stuff is not under your control, and is subject to sloppy handling, arbitrary changes in policy, theft, data loss [are they making frequent backups using best practices?], and bankruptcy of the company that holds it. It can easily take three days to restore it at ordinary Internet speeds.

If you do not have a recent local, disk-based backup, your computer is like a ticking Time bomb. You are only one disk failure, one crazy software, or one "oops" away from losing EVERYTHING! Drives do not last forever. It is not a question of IF it will fail, only WHEN it will fail. In addition, you never know when crazy software or Pilot error throws away far more than you intended.

If you are using another direct-to-disk backup method that you prefer, and you currently have a recent disk-based backup, that is great. If not, you should consider using Built-in Time Machine. Take steps to acquire an external drive as soon as possible. If you buy one, a drive 2 to 3 times or larger than your boot drive is preferable for long term trouble-free operation. Do not pay extra for a drive that is fast. (You can get by for a while with a "found" smaller drive if necessary, but it will eventually become annoying).

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Where are the Onedrive documents stored

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