OneDrive Taking up space on C: even when nothing is being kept on device.
Recently got a new device and had all my files on the previous device synced to my OneDrive. The C drive has about 120 GB of my data (including OS) but when I check my Disk space, I only have 5GB remaining out of 256. However, OneDrive seems to be taking about 150 GB on the disk even though all the files have the cloud icons on it.
OneDrive suddenly became empty after university storage policy change Is recovery still possible?
Hello everyone, I am looking for technical guidance regarding a serious OneDrive for Business issue under Microsoft 365 Education. Environment - Microsoft 365 Education tenant. - University-managed account. - OneDrive for Business. - My account is still active and I can sign in normally. What happened On July 16, 2026, I signed into my OneDrive and discovered that my entire "My files" folder was empty. I verified the following: - I am signed into the correct account. - "My files" is completely empty. - The OneDrive Recycle Bin is empty. - "Restore your OneDrive" does not show any mass deletion event. - My OneDrive site is accessible, but there are no files. - I unfortunately do not have a complete local backup. A few days later, my university informed students that they had reduced the OneDrive storage quota from 5 TB to 30 GB due to a Microsoft/provider policy update. I suspect my OneDrive contained more than 30 GB because I had stored backups from my previous computer together with years of academic, personal and work files. However, I would like to understand whether exceeding the new storage quota could actually cause an existing OneDrive site to appear completely empty, or whether this suggests another issue such as: - OneDrive reprovisioning - Site replacement - License reassignment - Site deletion - Storage migration - SharePoint issue - Other administrative problem The university initially described this as a temporary Microsoft incident, but later told me that the files had been deleted because of the OneDrive application, without providing any technical explanation. I have already asked the university IT department to investigate: - Deleted Sites in SharePoint Admin Center - Second-stage Recycle Bin - Retention policies - Previous OneDrive site - Licensing history - Possible restore options My question to Microsoft experts is: 1. Can a storage quota reduction (5 TB → 30 GB) ever make an existing OneDrive appear completely empty? 2. Are there other administrative scenarios that could produce this behavior while leaving the account active? 3. Is there anything specific I should ask my Microsoft 365 administrator to verify that is commonly overlooked? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated because these files represent several years of academic, professional and personal work. Thank you very much.
Missing Files
Previously, I had been using Onedrive to save data on it. I didn't have a lot of data but some folders, files, etc... Last week, on my Mac, I installed Onedrive and it was active. Today, after I signed in to my account, my files were missing. Some of it was cache when I synced it with my Mac. I know stuff was there. Now, after I sign in, there is folders there but they are empty. These folders were not there earlier. There is whole bunch of files in the recycle bin which I didn't put there. Some how the cached files ended up in the recycling bin. I am not able to install Onedrive anymore on the Mac. What is going on?
Onedrive sooo annoying but great a same time
I have an some what unwanted computer issue here with Microsoft Onedrive! I have Office 365 and use Onedrive however, it has deleted over 5,500 pictures (yes I have backups and yes I deleted them off OneDrive HOWEVER these pictures were on my computer first so why does Onedrive delete the files even one my PC is the question - is there some setting to prevent this). However, this is so annoying, especially with documents, and IF you stop syncing a folder, OneDrive will delete that folder from your PC - why, especially since the folder was originally on my computer first. So it "seems" Onedrive does things without our consent people tell me BUT I say there must be a setting - anyone know where it is?
Onedrive LOSES my data!
So I spent time adding lots of entries to a stock management spreadsheet, saved it to my onedrive and made sure it said 'saved' at the top of the excel window. Opened the sheet again today to see that all of my changes are gone and I have effectively lost my stock because the absolute imbeciles at Microsoft can't code. How do I get my work back? When are microsoft going to sort their sloperating system out?Inefficient OneDrive Synchronization Causes Windows Explorer Slowdowns
OneDrive has become a significant performance bottleneck in daily Windows usage. Its synchronization process frequently consumes excessive disk resources, directly impacting Windows Explorer performance and making file browsing noticeably slow, regardless of the desktop PC's hardware specifications. What is even more concerning is that this issue has persisted for years. Many users have reported the same problem, yet the recurring response is simply that the team is "aware of the issue." Despite these acknowledgments, there have been no meaningful improvements, no clear action plan, and little transparency regarding progress or future fixes. The lack of communication and visible progress creates the impression that the user experience is not receiving the attention it deserves. For a service as important and deeply integrated into the Windows ecosystem as OneDrive, users expect greater transparency, stronger commitment, and continuous improvements to performance and reliability. At this point, OneDrive is becoming less of a practical productivity solution and more of a source of frustration for many users. We hope Microsoft will give these concerns the priority they deserve and provide a clearer roadmap for improving both the performance and overall reliability of the service. --- Sincronização ineficiente do OneDrive causa lentidão no Windows Explorer O OneDrive tem se tornado um gargalo significativo no uso diário do Windows. A sincronização frequentemente consome recursos de disco de forma excessiva, afetando diretamente o desempenho do Windows Explorer e tornando a navegação de arquivos lenta, independentemente da configuração do computador utilizado. O mais preocupante é que essa situação persiste há anos. Muitos usuários relatam o mesmo problema e, apesar das respostas recorrentes de que a equipe está "ciente da situação", não percebemos melhorias concretas, um plano de ação claro ou atualizações transparentes sobre o andamento das correções. A falta de comunicação e de avanços visíveis passa a impressão de que a experiência do usuário não está recebendo a atenção necessária. Para um serviço tão importante e amplamente integrado ao ecossistema Windows, seria fundamental haver mais transparência, comprometimento e evolução contínua da plataforma. Atualmente, o OneDrive está deixando de ser uma solução prática para muitos usuários e se tornando uma fonte constante de frustração. Esperamos que a Microsoft trate essas questões com a prioridade que merecem e forneça um posicionamento mais claro sobre os planos futuros para melhorar o desempenho e a confiabilidade do serviço.
Getting rid of unwanted shares
Hello everyone. On my company computers there is a name listed under "People" and this individual has shared a file with me (by mistake I assume). Through a lot of digging I finally found out he is an attorney and it was paperwork from some case he had worked on. I don't know him and whatever the docs are have nothing to do with me. The secretary I talked to didn't seem to care and said, "I don't believe it's confidential. Just ignore it." I don't want to ignore it! Every time I log on there it is. It's intrusive! And before you all say just hide it, No, There should be a way to not automatically accept unwanted shares.
Moving files out of unlinked, unsynced and disabled onedrive
I am out of storage space on my PC -Windows 11 and get reminders of that everyday. To help solve that problem I would like to move MyDocuments (a huge file) to Drive D. Here is the potential problem. I unlinked, unsynced and removed OneDrive in 2020, or so I thought. I still see the OneDrive symbol in Microsoft Explorer above the line from Drive C and other drives. Most of my files are accessible in Drive C, but not MyDocuments, Desktop, and some others. They can only be opened thru OneDrive. This always puzzled me, but since all my files are accessible to me, I haven't worried about it. Now I'm concerned that OneDrive still has its tentacles around some of my files. MyDocuments and Desktop are being updated, but my files in the cloud are seriously out of date. What does that tell me? If they are still tied to OneDrive somehow, does that complicate the removal of those files to Drive D?
