OneDrive for Mac "Turn on files on-demand" not working

Iron Contributor

In OneDrive on a Mac running Mojave I am trying to activate Files On-Demand. Every time I click "Turn on files on-demand" OneDrive crashes and reboots but the option never activates. Is there a script I can run to force files on demand to activate? It should simply be on by default.

 

I am syncing a OneDrive of about 800Gb but the iMac only has 500Gb hard drive so it is essential that I get files on-demand working before OneDrive completes syncing.

 

Thanks!

6 Replies
Could activate iPhone

@Jason Drew Did you figure out a solution to this problem? I have two Macs struggling with it.

@IanBanker_ No. There are literally no troubleshooting options other than ''uninstall and reinstall''. There is no information online. I ended up dropping OneDrive and buying a NAS.

Us too ... not good, no response, no answer :(

@JRP_Mac_PC_IT_Systems I recently installed OneDrive on a new Mac and I can confirm that files-on-demand is now on by default. However, I highly recommend limiting the quantity of files you put in OneDrive for Mac. The indexing just isn't as good as on PC so you will have constant issues if you let the drive become too big. 

 

If you have a lot of files, consider investing in a NAS. I bought a Synology DS218+ and it is absolutely amazing.

After finding nowhere with an actual solution and doing some experimenting, I've found the actual cause for it is that on Mac, files on-demand only works if the drive you are syncing to is APFS formatted.

 

The error message will only show if you downloaded OneDrive from the .pkg file from Microsoft's website instead of from the Mac App Store, which shows a lack of dev consistency on their part.

 

If you're using an HFS (Mac OS Journaled) formatted disk as your primary boot drive, i.e. on Hackintosh, set up an APFS partition and chose that as the OneDrive directory.