Single OneDrive Account - 2 PCs - Want different files on each PC

rdemyan1

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Feb 10, 2021
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I have 2 PCs using a single OneDrive account. My main PC has 1 TB of hard drive space while the 2nd or backup PC only has 500 GB. The backup PC hard drive is almost full.

I was hoping that I could create a folder in OneDrive called Public_Archive and move folders that I hardly ever use into that OneDrive folder. Since I have plenty of space on my main PC, I created a symbolic link folder on my main PC hard drive called "Public_Archive" (which is linked to the Public_Archive folder in OneDrive) and placed it in the Users folder on my main PC. For a test, I then place a 2GB folder that I would like to "archive" into the Public_Archive folder on my main PC and that 2GB folder did get uploaded to the Public_Archive folder on OneDrive (which is good). There is no Public_Archive folder on the backup PC hard drive, so I wasn't expecting that the contents of Public_Archive folder on OneDrive would get downloaded to the backup PC. However, it appears that it did. I don't know where it got downloaded on my backup PC, but the disk space on my backup PC was reduced by 2GB.

I saw that the OneDrive app on my backup PC was downloading files and I tried to follow the link to see if I could figure out where on my backup PC HARD DRIVE, the files were being downloaded to. But the link took me to the OneDrive folder on the backup PC. I also tried searching in Windows Explorer, but it was really difficult to make sense of the results.

So, if I didn't provide OneDrive with a similar or symbolic folder on my backup PC hard drive to sync to, then what happened?

My ultimate goal is to have an "archive" folder in OneDrive with my main PC also holding the files in the "archive" folder on the main PC's hard drive, but my backup PC not keeping those archived files on its hard drive. Is it possible to do this and if so, how? Thanks.
 

thinkdan

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Feb 26, 2011
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I have 2 PCs using a single OneDrive account. My main PC has 1 TB of hard drive space while the 2nd or backup PC only has 500 GB. The backup PC hard drive is almost full.

I was hoping that I could create a folder in OneDrive called Public_Archive and move folders that I hardly ever use into that OneDrive folder. Since I have plenty of space on my main PC, I created a symbolic link folder on my main PC hard drive called "Public_Archive" (which is linked to the Public_Archive folder in OneDrive) and placed it in the Users folder on my main PC. For a test, I then place a 2GB folder that I would like to "archive" into the Public_Archive folder on my main PC and that 2GB folder did get uploaded to the Public_Archive folder on OneDrive (which is good). There is no Public_Archive folder on the backup PC hard drive, so I wasn't expecting that the contents of Public_Archive folder on OneDrive would get downloaded to the backup PC. However, it appears that it did. I don't know where it got downloaded on my backup PC, but the disk space on my backup PC was reduced by 2GB.

I saw that the OneDrive app on my backup PC was downloading files and I tried to follow the link to see if I could figure out where on my backup PC HARD DRIVE, the files were being downloaded to. But the link took me to the OneDrive folder on the backup PC. I also tried searching in Windows Explorer, but it was really difficult to make sense of the results.

So, if I didn't provide OneDrive with a similar or symbolic folder on my backup PC hard drive to sync to, then what happened?

My ultimate goal is to have an "archive" folder in OneDrive with my main PC also holding the files in the "archive" folder on the main PC's hard drive, but my backup PC not keeping those archived files on its hard drive. Is it possible to do this and if so, how? Thanks.

Go to the OneDrive app settings on your backup PC, then to the Settings tab and make sure the Files On-Demand check box is selected (it says "Save space and download files as you use them"). That way, you can see the backed up files on your backup PC, but they won't actually use any space unless you open a file.
Also, while you're browsing the OneDrive settings, go to the Account tab. There's a button that says "Choose Folders" where you can select which folders on your OneDrive account you want to make available on your PC. Again, you will be able to see those folders but they won't use any space if you're using the Files On-Demand feature.
 

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