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sesslercory's avatar
sesslercory
Copper Contributor
Apr 10, 2023

OneDrive downloads all files just uploaded

I use Syncbackfree to sync my files from a hard drive to an external drive. I then use OneDrive to upload the files from the external drive to the Cloud. The issue that just started happening is now when I sync my folders to the external drive and upload them to OneDrive the files I just uploaded re-download to my external drive (the OneDrive icon shows uploading then immediately after it shows downloading). Then when I run the Syncbacfree program it is as if I never synced my files. It's as if the files were somehow changed by OneDrive when they downloaded to the external drive after I just uploaded them to the Cloud. So it goes in a cycle that I sync my files and transfer 20gb of data to my external drive. OneDrive then finds the changes and uploads 20gb of data to the Cloud then immediately downloads 20gb of data to the external drive then I run the Syncbackfree program and it again transfers 20gb of data as if all the files on my drive I just synced are changed. Has anyone ever heard of this happening or what can be done to stop OneDrive from re-downloading the files after they are uploaded???

  • MikeWWW's avatar
    MikeWWW
    Iron Contributor
    Since your external drive is not within your local OneDrive folder, it may as well be in another planet. You can either copy the files to your local OneDrive folder directly and/or ensure that Files in Demand is enabled so that the files are not redownloaded. If you don't need those files locally then remove their folder(s) from your sync
    • sesslercory's avatar
      sesslercory
      Copper Contributor
      Mike thanks for your reply. My external drive is where my OneDrive folder is located. I primarily use the files on my external drive and have them uploaded to the cloud as a backup. Currently I do not have Files-On-Demand enabled. If I enable this check box will all of the files I currently have in the OneDrive folder on the external drive be deleted?
      • MikeWWW's avatar
        MikeWWW
        Iron Contributor
        There's something else going on that I'm not comfortable with. From your description (which is the clearest) it seems that your local sync operation is touching all your files irrespective of changes.

        I would not make any recommendations without a clear understanding of what is happening. Also you should have a backup of your OneDrive files besides a cloud sync version.
  • JWFisher99's avatar
    JWFisher99
    Copper Contributor

    sesslercory  That sounds backwards. OneDrive should be on your computer's internal drive and the backup software should copy that and anything else you want to the external drive.

    I have 3 disc drives - 1 SSD for the o/s, and 2 HDDS for the data. I had moved OneDrive to the 1st of the two HDDs. I use Second Copy to nightly copy (anything that has changed) the entire contents of the 1st drive (the OneDrive folder and everything else on the 1st HDD) to the second HDD. That 2nd hard drive is never touched otherwise. And OneDrive does it's thing automatically all day long. Neither SecondCopy nor OneDrive mark any files - they are unaware of each other. Therefore I am tripple backed  up: the locale OneDrive, it's mirror in the cloud, and my 2nd HDD.
    This has been my setup for probably 5 years now.

  • sesslercory's avatar
    sesslercory
    Copper Contributor
    In case anyone uses SyncBackFree and OneDrive together I want to give an update on what I have found. When using the program SyncBackFree to update the files in the OneDrive folder this problem happens; however if I use SyncToy (what I was using before) the problem does not happen. For some reason Syncbackfree and OneDrive don't like each other and they don't play well together.

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