Forum Discussion
How to add additional folders
How can I add additional folders for One drive to backup other than just Documents, Pictures, Desktop ?
Say I have a folder in my C drive I want backed up all so?
20 Replies
- owowoww
- Actually you can. Just create a symbolic link to OneDrive folder.
mklink /D "C:\Users\Fatih\OneDrive\MyFolder" "C:\Users\Fatih\Downloads\MyFolder"
mklink is used for making links (like shortcuts)
/D is to specify that the target is a directory (you can ignore it if you just want to add a single file).
command syntax is MKLINK [/D] Link Target
Note: I did not test it thoroughly but it added the folder to sync.So, there is no way to add random folders. I am very surprised at MS for not providing this very basic functionality.
This is so useful, thank you!! OneDrive is following my symlink directory exactly as intended.
I will add that you can also combine this with addressing an external drive as a volume ID for reliability. Use `mountvol` in the command prompt to get the ID of the volume you want to access.
mklink /D SymFolderName \\?\Volume{1b3b1146-4076-11e1-84aa-806e6f6e6963}\ExternalFolderName
- OneDrive only syncs content that is inside the OneDrive folder, so you if you want other content backed up then you will have to move those folders inside the OneDrive folder.
e.g. if you have C:\folder1 to back up then folder1 needs to sit under C:\users\[YourProfile]\OneDrive (assuming that is your OneDrive folder location).
The advice given by ajeex is only about which of those folder inside OneDrive will be visible on your hard drive.
So for example you have OneDrive running on another computer with a folder WorkFiles. THat folder will automatically be synced on your first computer unless you deselect it in the "Choose folders" dialog. Then it will not take any space on your computer. The files will still be available through the web-browser.- I was trying to avoid moving that folder
You can add additional folders to be backed up by OneDrive by following these steps:
1. Open the OneDrive app on your computer.
2. Click on the OneDrive icon in the system tray and select "Settings."
3. In the "Account" tab, click on "Choose folders."
4. Select the folders you want to add to OneDrive for backup.
5. Click "OK" to save your changes.
Once you've added the folders, OneDrive will automatically back them up to the cloud. Any changes you make to the files in these folders will be synced to OneDrive and to any other devices where you have OneDrive set up.
It's important to note that adding additional folders to OneDrive may increase the amount of storage space you use in OneDrive, which may require you to upgrade your storage plan.
I follow these steps, but after step 4 I am stuck on the Sync your files to this PC window. It just sits there with the circle spinning. I've left it for 20 minutes and it's still spinning.
Cal,
Welcome to my world. We cannot even use it out me house. When you set up a new computer, it takes everyone out! No one can use the Internet. Sinc three of us live here and work from home at all hours, It eats the internal network, whih is updated to the latest greatest as is our Internet connections. When you try to add a new folder, it is the same problem. I have found that if I manually copy a folder it is a bazillion times faster. Then OneDrive will do it's work on that end and THEN I can tell it to sync and it only has to do a few files a day. Make any sense? Have fun.
Fly
Not true! You wrongly refer to the folders already in Onedrive.
Your advice will is to shown them on your PC (or not).
- I don't have that option 4> 4. Select the folders you want to add to OneDrive for backup
