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PC to One Drive: How long does it take for a sync pending file to fully synchronize?

Anonymous
2022-09-12T14:06:36+00:00

Hi,

I have some .mp4 files that I want to transfer from my PC to my One Drive. I'm VERY new to using One Drive and my intent is to free up space on my PC. Is One Drive in the cloud or is it on my PC? I'm asking because when I click on my "This PC" in file explorer, the "Local Disk (C)" showing amount of free space doesn't appear to be moving after I've moved files to One Drive... in the status bar, I see "Sync pending".

How long would it take for a sync pending file to fully synchronize?

Thanks!

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Files, folders, and storage

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  1. Anonymous
    2022-09-12T14:19:42+00:00

    Your OneDrive is in the cloud. Here is its address: https://onedrive.live.com

    Windows includes a OneDrive app that is supposed to help you work with your OneDrive.

    You don't need the app to store your .mp4 files in OneDrive. All you have to do is open OneDrive in your web browser and drag a .mp4 file from your computer onto the web page. A copy of the file will upload to your OneDrive.

    When you drag a file to your OneDrive it uploads immediately. How long it takes to upload depends on your upload speed and the extent to which Microsoft manages uploads to balance the load on its servers.

    You only need the OneDrive app if you want to sync files.

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  1. Anonymous
    2022-11-05T20:20:02+00:00

    I have a new laptop and my old laptop files were loaded on the new one. I have 77K of files and it shows that it's syncing. This has been going on for 2 days. Is this normal?

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-09-12T16:36:20+00:00

    If you have a personal OneDrive, i.e., a OneDrive that belongs to you personally, then you must also have a Microsoft account, because you can't have a OneDrive without a Microsoft Account. In fact, you need a Microsoft account to post here, so you must have one.

    In that case, to sign in to your OneDrive, you enter the email address and password for your Microsoft account.

    However, if you get Office 365 through work - Office 365 is another feature that requires a Microsoft account - then you probably have a work-related Microsoft account, so your OneDrive is likely work-related. I don't think you want to upload your .mp4 to a OneDrive that belongs to your employer. You probably want to get your own Microsoft account.

    Here is a quick explanation of a Microsoft account. (I hope this doesn't make things worse!) Your Microsoft account is a user account that exists on the internet, aka 'the cloud.' A Microsoft account has very many features, and once you sign in to your Microsoft account, you gain access to all its features, like Microsoft Store, XBox, Skype, Office 365 ... OneDrive ... and Microsoft Community, among many other features.

    Here's the sneaky thing: You can, if you want, sign in to your Microsoft account directly, right here:

    https://account.microsoft.com/account?lang=en-us

    or you can sign in to any of its features individually. However, when you sign in to one of its features individually, that in effect signs you in to your Microsoft account, so now you are signed in everywhere.

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  3. Anonymous
    2022-09-12T14:48:17+00:00

    Hi alwayslearning.

    I am Dave, I will help you with this.

    1

    OneDrive by default will store your files on the PC and on the Cloud, if you go into OneDrive Settings, and set it to 'Files on Demand', then your files will be synced to the cloud and deleted from your PC, but would still be accessible on your PC.

    2

    With regards to space on your C drive:

    Click the link below to download a small free utility called Treesize.

    https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/treesize-free...

    Important - to run TreeSize, you must right click its icon and choose Run as Administrator.

    Please provide a screenshot of your C drive in that TreeSize utility, so I can see your hard drive and work out where that space is being used and if there is an underlying problem.

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  4. Anonymous
    2022-09-12T15:20:56+00:00

    thanks, @Rottweiler. I am using my work PC. When I go to the onedrive.live.com link and type in my email address, it says I don't have an account. My MS O365 account is through my work network, not a personal account so I guess that's why my email address isn't allowing me access (idk). Is there another way to do this? I really don't need or want to sync the files necessarily. I'd rather have them saved in One Drive (and not my PC) so that if I want to download them onto my PC or just access them from OneDrive using my PC, I can. Thanks again.

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