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ONEDRIVE - Best Practices for Reorganizing Large Amounts (1TB) of Files and Syncing

Anonymous
2022-03-06T05:30:30+00:00

I need to reorganize thousands of photos and files into different folders. Many files will also be renamed.

I've used OneDrive for many years and I've discovered that some of my files have vanished here and there throughout the years. When it's photos of my child or family it's much worse than losing a few documents. So now I need to be extra careful when reorganizing, renaming and syncing 1TB worth of content.

I have 4 questions:

  1. Should I do the major folder and file reorganization in the cloud via browser at onedrive.com? Or is it better to make major changes locally in Windows Explorer on my laptop?
  2. Should I PAUSE SYNCING while I'm renaming and reorganizing my files, and the turn it back on once I'm done? Or should I keep the sync running while I make all my major changes, whether I'm working in OneDrive via browser or via Windows Explorer.
  3. Is using a third party FTP app like CYBERDUCK a good way to reorganize and sync a large amount of files in OneDrive?
  4. Does a "Best Practices for Using OneDrive" official document from Microsoft exist?

I need to be very careful not to lose any more files like I have in the past.

Thank you.

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2022-03-06T17:21:43+00:00

    I'm with Craig, I'd do the renaming on the PC, let sync.

    .

    "Best Practice:" DON'T trust OneDrive with 1TB of synced files!

    .

    RUN, don't walk to the nearest electronics / computer store and by at least a 2TB external USB drive. 2 of them would be safer

    Copy your files to the USB BEFORE starting to rename and move things.

    .

    As well as using Sync, periodically copy new files to the external drive.

    .

    At least once a month we get a question along the lines "HELP! I can't access my files in OneDrive". "Files in OneDrive are 'missing'" etc. At ANY time MS can decide to lock you out of your account and OneDrive. Then you have to fight with them to get access back. But you have to fight with an AI, not a person. That is a losing battle.

    .

    Despite MS propaganda, using SYNC between computer and Onedrive is NOT a "BACKUP!".

    .

    How to Back Up Your Computer: 3-2-1

    https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/guides/how-to-back-up-your-computer/

    By Thorin KlosowskiUpdated September 29, 2021

    .  *  What makes a good backup?

    .  *  The tools you need to back up your computer

    .  *  Back up your computer to the cloud with Backblaze

    .  *  Create local Windows backups with File History

    .  *  Create local Mac backups with Time Machine

    .  *  How to restore your files from backups

    Experts recommend the 3-2-1 rule for backup:

    .  *  three copies of your data

    .  *  two local (on different devices)

    .  *  one off-site.

    For most people, this means the original data on your computer, a backup on an external hard drive, and another on a cloud backup service.

    .

    Here is another article with a sensible variation, 3-2-1-1

    https://blog.storagecraft.com/its-time-to-move-past-traditional-3-2-1-backups/ 

    But you could make the “2” step one of the 2 “local” drives could be a WORM (Write Once, Read many) drive, ie DVD-R drive.
    .

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-03-06T06:18:42+00:00

    Hello Joanna,

    I am Jaspreet Singh

    Using OneDrive web portal is a good idea when making a lot of changes to existing files as it helps minimise problems that may arise from sync issues.

    No keep the sync on while making the changes on OneDrive web.

    No it is not a good idea to use this party apps to manage OneDrive data files as they have known to cause issues with sync even other cloud storage apps like Dropbox have caused issues.

    OneDrive doesn’t have a best practices guide but has a basic guide on the use here : https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/oned...

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  3. Craig Long 17,885 Reputation points
    2022-03-06T08:59:59+00:00

    Should I do the major folder and file reorganization in the cloud via browser at onedrive.com? Or is it better to make major changes locally in Windows Explorer on my laptop?

    Personally I would prefer to do all the work of managing files on my PC in file explorer. But either way is fine.

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