Confused about where my files are being stored

OneDrive Sync is an example of relentless A.I. (Automatic Idiot).

There still is a storage hierarchy involved.

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Windows 10 is setup by default to "Sync" your files in the "OneDrive" folder to OneDrive in the "cloud"

Windows defaults the OneDrive sync folder to a few default folders under your personal Windows user ID, ie "Documents", "Pictures", etc.

When you rent/subscribe to 365 you get 1TB of additional OneDrive space that the Windows Sync tool uses.

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You do have the option to control which folders are included and which are excluded from OneDrive Sync.

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Here are some articles about OneDrive. (I don't use OneDrive so I haven't tested if you can redirect to a different drive) If none of these work for you, there is one more technique / tool you can use to get what you want. It is called "Symbolic Links". It is a (very old school) technique to "trick" Windows into thinking that a file is located somewhere else, like on your C:\ drive. If you want to try it, let us know, I'll give you some links to articles.

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This article describes one way to defeat automatic Sync to cloud. So you can tweak the technique

Customize The Save Experience In Office – Save To Hd Instead Of Onedrive

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/customize-the-save-experience-in-office-786200a7-f5f2-4d26-a3ae-b78c60dd5d3b
If you're looking to customize your experience when saving a new file via CTRL+S or pressing the Save button in the Quick Access Toolbar, here are some options to meet your needs. 
.  *  Usually use the cloud, but sometimes need to save locally?
.  *  Don’t use the cloud, but usually save to one location?
.  *  Prefer a more classic folder browsing experience, like in Windows Explorer?
.  *  Want to use the Backstage to immediately browse all your folders or access different connected sites?
.  *  Set a default working folder
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Back up your Documents, Pictures, and Desktop folders with OneDrive
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/back-up-your-documents-pictures-and-desktop-folders-with-onedrive
You can back up your important folders (your Desktop, Documents, and Pictures folders) on your Windows PC with OneDrive PC folder backup, so they're protected and available on other devices.
.  *  Set up PC folder backup
.  *  Manage or stop PC folder backup
.  *  Fix problems with PC folder backup

NOTE: calling OneDrive "Sync" a "backup" is misleading. While OneDrive storage can be used as one form of backup, I don't consider "OneDrive Sync" as backup. The problem I have with it is if you delete a file in one place, "Sync" deletes it everywhere. That is not a "backup", that is a live file stored in multiple locations.

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Manage your OneDrive storage and limits- OneDrive Free space

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/manage-your-onedrive-storage-and-limits-989fce19-ade6-4e2f-81fb-941eabefee28

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How to Modify OneDrive Settings in Windows 10

https://www.dummies.com/computers/operating-systems/windows-10/how-to-modify-onedrive-settings-in-windows-10/

As your needs change, you may want to tweak your OneDrive settings in Windows 10, perhaps changing which OneDrive folders should also live on your PC.

To revisit your OneDrive settings and change them, if necessary, follow these steps:

. 2015 08 04- How to Configure OneDrive to Sync Only Certain Folders in Windows 10 https://www.howtogeek.com/222817/how-to-configure-onedrive-to-sync-only-certain-folders-in-windows-10/

OneDrive provides 5 GB of free cloud space for you to store photos, music, documents, and other files. These files can be synced among multiple devices such as smart phones, tablets, and PCs. However, you may not want to download all your content to certain devices.

If your PC has limited hard drive space, you may want to only sync certain folders from your OneDrive account. This is easily accomplished.

. 2021 03 03- What if My OneDrive is Too Big for My Hard Drive? - manage OneDrive https://askleo.com/what-if-my-onedrive-is-too-big-for-my-hard-drive/ I have a Surface with limited storage. I want to keep data in OneDrive and not on my local drive unless I need it. I don’t know how to arrange that. When I delete items from my computer, OneDrive seems to want to replace them. Is there an easy way to set it up so that doesn’t happen? <Rohn007> This is a good summary of OneDrive features people are frequently asking for.

There are several approaches to managing OneDrive disk space usage.

·     “Choose Folders” allows you to specify that only certain folders in your OneDrive appear on your computer.

·     Files “On Demand” prevents a file from taking space on your computer until you actually need it.

·     change the location of your OneDrive folder to another drive that has more space, if you have one.

·     use OneDrive online only, without any files on your computer.

. Change the location of your OneDrive folder (MS) https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/change-the-location-of-your-onedrive-folder-f386fb81-1461-40a7-be2c-712676b2c4ae OneDrive (work or school) OneDrive (home or personal) OneDrive for Windows . change OneDrive’s location in Win 10 (Digital Citizen) https://www.digitalcitizen.life/change-onedrive-folder/

In Windows 10, OneDrive is embedded into the operating system, and it serves as the default service for storing your files, synchronizing them with other devices, syncing your Windows 10 settings, etc. One of the most common questions when working with it is: “How do I change OneDrive’s folder location?”. If you want to move your OneDrive folder and store your files in another location than the default, here’s how to do it:

The procedure is quite long:

. * Open OneDrive.

. * Go to Help & Settings, and then to Settings.

. * On the Account tab, click Unlink this PC.

. * Confirm that you want to Unlink account.

. * Move your OneDrive folder to another location in File Explorer.

. * Open OneDrive again, and connect with your Microsoft account.

. * When the location of your OneDrive folder is shared, click Change location.

. * Choose the new location of the OneDrive folder.

. * Confirm your choice and go ahead with the OneDrive configuration wizard.

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Thank you so much for all the tips and links!

Thank you for the replies so far. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a simple way to do move the OneDrive folder to the SD card.

I read the articles about installing OneDrive on an external drive such as an SD card and apparently the file system has to be NTFS, but my SD is exFAT. So I followed instructions for converting FAT to NTFS - but the converter does not convert exFAT to NTFS. Apparently I would have to reformat the SD card - i.e., lose all my data on it.

As I said in my original post, I seem to have some of my files on the SD drive synced to OneDrive, but not all. I think what's happening is that although I am initially saving them in the SD folder locally, when I sync them to OneDrive, close, and reopen them, they actually get downloaded to the OneDrive folder on the C: drive (which contains a DocumentsSD folder and subfolders, which I suppose got set up because I had selected that folder to be uploaded to OneDrive), so I have two different local versions of the same folders and files. And then some folders/files aren't getting uploaded at all. I had mistakenly assumed that when files are synced to OneDrive they would automatically be saved locally and/or downloaded back from the cloud to the original location.

So, my question now is, is there any way I can convert the exFAT drive to NTSF without having to reformat it?

If not, how do I ensure I have a copy of everything on my SD card saved to OneDrive in such a way that I can download them back onto the SD card? If I move the OneDrive folder (and everything in it) to the SD card after I reformat it, will this ensure that OneDrive will download the files back into the same folder/subfolder hierarchy?

Thank you, CraigLong. I'll watch the video and give it a try.

Just move your OneDrive folder to the SD, or create a new folder on the SD and name it OneDrive to download all files from online.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/change-the-location-of-your-onedrive-folder

Then your Documents, Pictures, and Desktop folders will automatically move to the SD when you turn on the OneDrive PC Folder Backup.

Just watch this video:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/back-up-your-documents-pictures-and-desktop-folders-with-onedrive