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OneDrive for Mac Now Supports Removable Drives

Jack_Nichols's avatar
Jack_Nichols
Icon for Microsoft rankMicrosoft
Jun 12, 2025

Earlier this year, we announced support for several improvements to OneDrive for Mac, including support for external, non-removable drives.

We’ve heard feedback about the differences between “non-removable” and removable drives, and wanting the flexibility to sync OneDrive to any external drive—no matter the type. Now, with our latest Insiders update, you can seamlessly sync your OneDrive files to any external drive, including removable ones.

Syncing to a removable drive works just like any other drive, except that if you unplug your drive, OneDrive will stop syncing and show an error. You’ll need to plug your drive back in and restart OneDrive to resume syncing. There’s a short grace period between when a drive gets disconnected and when OneDrive shows an error to handle drives that sporadically disconnect.

There are a few requirements your system must meet to use this feature:
  • Starting today, Insiders can try out this feature (you’ll need build 25.097 or later), with broader availability coming soon.
  • You also need to be running macOS 15.0 or later.
  • The drive you select must meet the following requirements:
    • Formatted for APFS
    • Protected by FileVault (see below for instructions)
    • Not read-only, a network drive, or marked as quarantined by macOS.

Just like before, you'll need to manually set up a new sync relationship on the new drive. Sync settings won't transfer automatically.

You cannot use OneDrive by moving your external drive between Macs; you must set up OneDrive again on each new Mac with the external drive.

To protect a drive with FileVault:
  1. Format the drive for case-insensitive APFS, if it is not already.
  2. Find the drive in the Finder.
  3. Option/right click the drive and choose Encrypt.
  4. Follow the prompts.
  5. That’s it!

 

We’d love to hear your feedback about this change! The best way to do that is to click on the OneDrive icon in the macOS Menu bar (near the clock), click the gear icon, and choose Send Feedback.

You can also leave a comment here. We read them all, even if we can’t reply to them all.

Updated Jun 12, 2025
Version 1.0
onedrive

17 Comments

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  • Pezjulo's avatar
    Pezjulo
    Copper Contributor
    Jun 22, 2025

    So, I stopped using OneDrive for mac ever since I noticed that prior builds took twice the expected space in my HD, one set of files for the root library, and a "copy" of those files in the Group Containers path. This is a widely known and reported issue with onedrive, that made my Mac consume all my disk space in effectively holding about 1TB of data for Sync files (my OneDrive data is around 500GB).

     

    This new version still has the same issue, as verified using a Disk monitor solution...data gets synced to the chosen Library (showing as Documents in the storage) and also as System Data (which are the mrrored files in Group Containers).

     

    Can you please inform when a version of OneDrive that doesn't create duplicates of all files will be released?

    • bananadon's avatar
      bananadon
      Copper Contributor
      Jun 22, 2025

      Do you have any good ideas for alternatives? We were using the old version and never upgrade that works like a charm but even that one auto-upgraded unexpectedly. What a good product!

  • bananadon's avatar
    bananadon
    Copper Contributor
    Jun 20, 2025

    It’s not working, when opening a file, always says Finder cannot communicate with the application, even the OneDrive panel shows it is downloaded. And as I can see it is still a shortcut in the removable drive rather than the files? I don’t know if the files are really stored in it.

  • brendancopestake's avatar
    brendancopestake
    Copper Contributor
    Jun 19, 2025

    Hi Jack

    Excited about this update for OneDrive. 

    Please point us where we can download 25.097 for Mac. 

     

    The Microsoft website only has 25.095 as does the MacStore.  

    I have subscribed to insider via the office apps, but am really struggling to get the right build, looks like other people in the comments are also struggling. 

     

    Thank you

    Bren

     

  • Bluesky007's avatar
    Bluesky007
    Copper Contributor
    Jun 18, 2025

    I cannot get the removable drive to work. I create the APFS folder & encrypt. At first, everything looks good. I can see all the files in Finder. The problem starts when I open a file. I get an error message:

    The document x.txt could not be opened. 

    The "always keep on this device" results in an error message "The file couldn't be saved because you don't have premission".

    I checked - I do have file premission & I can write to the folder.

    I tried this on two external drives with the same results. Note - it does work great if I use an APFS folder on the boot drive.

    I'm running version 25.105.0601.0002

    Help!

      • arthur229's avatar
        arthur229
        Copper Contributor
        Jul 04, 2025

        I have exactly the same problem. What can I do?

         

  • cavecafe's avatar
    cavecafe
    Copper Contributor
    Jun 14, 2025

    Where can I get the build 25.097 or later? I'm in Insider ring. 

    • Jack_Nichols's avatar
      Jack_Nichols
      Icon for Microsoft rankMicrosoft
      Jun 16, 2025

      Open OneDrive settings, click on the About tab, and make sure the check box to opt in to Insiders is checked. If you don't see it, you're either running a version of OneDrive installed from the App Store (this version doesn't support Insiders), or your IT admin has disabled it. 

       

      Once you've done that, OneDrive should auto update within a day or two. You can sometimes force it to happen sooner by restarting OneDrive after this box is checked. 

       

      Any build >= 25.097 will have this feature.

       

      cc carlpoppa​ 

    • carlpoppa's avatar
      carlpoppa
      Copper Contributor
      Jun 14, 2025

      Same question here. Jack, why don't you tell us how to update OneDrive to this 25.097 preview version? I am already a Windows Insider and OneDrive Insider enabled on my Windows 11 machine, but I still cannot get preview update on my Mac? Please let us know. Thanks!

  • Flexpert's avatar
    Flexpert
    Copper Contributor
    Jun 12, 2025

     

    Let me reiterate, that the Cache folder, now only used for home volume sync, does not serve any useful purpose any more. Why don’t you ditch it for good? 

    I thought that for syncing to a non-home volume, using the Cache folder as a middleman between macOS File Provider and the actual OneDrive Cloud Storage was quite a clever solution. But for the normal use case with only the home volume it seemed to introduce unnecessary complexity, failure potential and a confusing user experience. 

    So now that Apple allows to move the Sync Root itself to the other drive – wouldn't it be time to get rid of the middleman altogether? What's the actual advantage of the cloned cache folder approach (especially with home-only storage) compared to using File Provider the way its is intended? 

    • bananaMonkey's avatar
      bananaMonkey
      Copper Contributor
      Jun 19, 2025

      As with same expectations with all other products from Microsoft, it is an unbelievable choice and provide a unnecessary comprehensive solution to a pretty much a simple feature request - sync files within the removable drive, which most Mac users are facing to.

       

      We are at first very excited to hear this news, then update all our client to the Insider Ring, then the familiar disappointment feelings (that especially to Microsoft products), appears again. As I can observe, you letting us to store the files into a removable drive while keep consuming storage on both local drive `Macintosh HD` and removable drive.

       

      What a marvellous features that appears to be ruined by Microsoft again, can we just have the feature from the very old 2021 version that just work? 

       

      Nowadays, even we do not have choice to use the old version to keep this working, since it will force you to update no matter what. You just do not give freedom of choice for your customer?

      Hopefully you guys will fix it by the next 5 or 10 years or so.

       

      Jack_Nichols​