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When I recovered my files from Carbonite, I didn't realize OneDrive was taking the files off my computer

Anonymous
2023-11-20T18:11:31+00:00

I reset my laptop when I sent it for repairs. When I recovered my files from Carbonite, I didn't realize OneDrive was taking the files off my computer. I never used OneDrive before and didn't understand how it works. After Carbonite finished, I couldn't see thumbnails on photographs, and I had red x's everywhere. I read several posts here and, on the internet, before I realized what happened. I changed the settings to Always Keep My Files On This Device. Some folders and files then had a green check mark and the thumbnail photographs appeared. However, because I ran out of space, the majority of my files and photographs still have the OneDrive red x and my photo thumbnails won't show. The photographs are there and will open, but I need to see the photo in the thumbnail, or it will take all day to find what I need.

I'm assuming that those red x' marks mean that file didn't upload to OneDrive. So how do I get the thumbnails to appear? I unchecked Always show icons, never thumbnails, and checked Display file Icon on Thumbnails and that didn't work. Is there a way to stop OneDrive and have it stop holding my thumbnail icons hostage? Or do I have to pay for more space just to be able to put my files back on my own device? If that's the case, it kinda feels like ransomeware.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Files, folders, and storage

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-11-20T19:54:10+00:00

    Is this OneDrive included in win, in which case it only has 5gb capacity and nothing is uploaded to that OneDrive unless the user does so.

    However if OneDrive as a component of O365

    OneDrive is not a backup, it’s a cloud location of your data.

    The default installation of Office 365 and its OneDrive component uploads all the contents of the PC  \My Documents\ folders to OneDrive, (syncs) and there will be a OneDrive folder in File Explorer containing cached copy of all the OneDrive content. And in Word etc the default Save location is set to OneDrive.

    No Docs/data is stored on the local PC

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-11-21T06:10:21+00:00

    Thank you for responding. It is the 5gb. It must have been set to upload to OneDrive by default because I didn't even realize it was there, or even what it does, so I didn't do anything.

    I unlinked my computer from OneDrive and that made the photographs show up on the thumbnails again, however, my entire document folder in file explorer disappeared. I spent an hour with a chat agent. He was able to get my files back and downloaded from OneDrive. Later, when I opened File Explorer, the folder disappeared again. This is so frustrating.

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