Help Please! Stop OneDrive Using Space On My Hard Disk!! How Can I Do This?

[Windows Central Question]

Help Please! Stop OneDrive Using Space On My Hard Disk!!

I have uploaded around 100GB of data to OneDrive and it's not until recently that I realised that was the reason my free hard drive space was shrinking! *duh*

OneDrive is integrated into my File Explorer and I thought once I moved something to there it just went to the cloud. I now realise this isn't the case and don't have very much hard disk space left. I have mapped OneDrive to a Network Drive so that I can access that and changed my registry editor so that the OneDrive folder is no longer in my explorer but it is still taking up the space. How can I delete the local copies of the data without deleting them from OneDrive as they are now only in the OneDrive folder??

I know it's Christmas but please help if you can this is so annoying.

Thank you and Merry Christmas!!

 

[Blarney77]

WOW! I think some people do not read the question... so let me put it out there myself. I want OneDrive to make Backups of files on my drive for security in case something gets deleted or the hard drive dies!
NOW, Here is the PROBLEM. I select 160GIG of music files AND My USER Folder to have backed up over time. Slow? yeah, but that is okay. BUT, BEFORE it backs up to the cloud, IT MAKES COPIES OF EVERY DANG SELECTED FILE In a folder on my LOCAL hard drive! And KEEPS them! Sure I can change what drive and folder it uses, Buy WHY THE HECK would I want Duplicates of 160G OR MORE of my files on my OWN LOCAL drives? I could have done that myself without using OneDrive.

Your cloud suggestion is interesting, but a MAJOR pain to set up and use. Why can't OneDrive just give ME the option of just copying those files to the OneDrive cloud? I DO NOT WANT TO DELETE MY FILES on my LOCAL hard drive, I just want a SECURITY backup! I just want them somewhere besides in my house in case of some disaster or quite frankly if I want access to those somewhere else without having to drag an external HD along with me! (Yes, I know large flash drives are available... But not a 1 TB flash drive.)
If Microsoft cannot do that, then I will have to use something else. But the idea that I have to keep files duplicated on my drives to have them backed up and synced is pretty dang ridiculous!

 

[KMEXTREME]

I agree OneDrive is proving to be overly complicated. I can't believe there is not a simple option to be able to sync TO OneDrive and be able to remove files/pics from local hard drive. So frustrating! This backup tool was recommended to me after my Outlook crashed. I just need 1 place to make a secure backup that is accessible if laptop crashes or something else happens to it.
I have spent days trying to backup pictures and remove from laptop!

 

[skcusime]

If you have synced your onedrive folders with the cloud, find them in file explorer and right click the folder you want to keep on the cloud, but not have on your C: Onedrive. You should see an option called "Clear Space". This will remove the files from C: but leave them on the cloud, thus freeing up your local storage. After this, you will see a cloud symbol next to each file and folder, indicating that they are on the cloud. Double click the file to get it back from the cloud to your hard drive.

 

[gunglewack]

If you don't want to sync all of your folders in your OneDrive to your computer, you can specify which folders you'd like to sync.

1. Click the white OneDrive cloud icon in the Windows taskbar notification area.
3. In the activity center, select More > Settings.
5. Select the Account tab, and select Choose folders.

For more info, read Choose which OneDrive folders to sync to your computer.

 

[Voytech JFGA]

Re: Help Please! Stop OneDrive Using Space On My Hard Disk!!

You can choose option Files On-Demand in One Drive settings under Settings tab.

You can also find more info there:

https://support.office.com/en-us/ar...971-b321-7092438fb38e?ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US

 

[ReprobusR]

Hey dzinger, this drove me nuts for a long time. What is the point of cloud storage if it takes up your hard drive? Not to mention that OneDrive is constantly "syncing" and using up precious disk space and computing power. Luckily after literal days spent on this problem. I managed to put together a somewhat reasonable solution.

1. Using Internet Explorer (actually), go to https://login.microsoftonline.com; enter your user name and password and select keep me signed in.

2. Click on the square in the upper left hand corner and select OneDrive from the drop down menu.

3. Once in OneDrive, select internet options from the upper left hand corner. Under the Security tab add the URL to the trusted sites list. If there is an option to choose a security level (depending on which version of explorer you are using) set it to lowest for trusted sites.

5. Click return to classic OneDrive in the lower left hand corner.

6. Click into the folder that you wish to have available on your PC (or tablet, or whatever).

7. In the OneDrive settings menu make sure that the ribbon is turned to on.

8. On the ribbon, under the Library heading click on open with explorer. Leave the resulting window open.

9. Open a new explorer window and right click on This PC on the left hand side. Select Map Network Drive.

10. Select the option (should be at the bottom of the pop-up box): Connect to a Website that you can use to store your documents and pictures. When given the option, select: Choose a custom network location. When you are asked to enter the network address use the address contained in the window you opened from OneDrive.

11. Bada Bing! You can now use OneDrive as an actual cloud service. The files are not located on your computer; you can cut and paste files from your computer onto OneDrive and visa versa and they will be located on one or the other, not both. If you delete a file from the OneDrive folder it deletes the file stored online. There will be no syncing and no storage use on your device.

The folder will be a network path, but I like to create a shortcut to my desktop. This can be a bit tetchy. If your folder is not opening: try logging in to office 365 and navigating to the folder in OneDrive. It should ask you to verify that you trust this site. If not, do the security process described above again.

The URL you posted does not link to what you may want it to link too ? And what internet option are you referring too within OneDrive ?