# OneDrive



## lschul (Oct 29, 2001)

My wife has Windows 10 and I just discovered OneDrive. She was using Carbonite, it expired, then I found out that 10 comes with OneDrive that does essentially the same thing. I've been trying to figure out how to use it but am having some issues. I can't figure out how to install or sync her files to OneDrive. Can anyone direct me to a tutorial or explain how to do this?

Also, I am on an older computer, Windows 7 I think. It seems like I can download the program and it'll work for me too. Is that the case?


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## etaf (Oct 2, 2003)

Carbonite and onedrive are different 
Carbonite is a backup system and can also contain versions of files
Onedrive is just a synchronisation of files 
So not quite the same.

For example Carbonite can be setup to automatically backup various folders 
and if you delete a file from say documents folder - it will still be on the carbonite server to backup.

Onedrive - you have to copy the files you want to keep across to the onedrive folder 
so say you put the one file on the onedrive folder and created a folder called documents and used that folder instead of your local PC documents 
now you delete the same document 
that file will be deleted from onedrive and gone forever 

onedrive deleted files do not go into the waste/recycle bin.

Also if you had the cypro to virus and all your files where encrpted - so would ALL the files on the onedrive system.
however, because carbonite can be setup to keep versions - you should be able to recover all the older version before the encrption files where copied across 

Some time ago , when i was looking into various backup system, I did havean online chat/call with caqrbonite who confirmed they had successfully recovered files after the client had the crypto virus 

dont be confused by the fact that onedrive has folders called 
documents / music / video /pictures - they are not automatically sysnced with your local PC folders of the same name 
you have to copy the files yourself into those onedrive folders , there is no windows automatic sync other than a third party piece of software

hope that helps , explain the difference 

if you have a MS Account (hotmail.com/etc or an outlook.com) email 
then you also qualify for 5GB of free onedrive space, which can be used with windows 7


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## lschul (Oct 29, 2001)

Sorry for the delay and thank you for the info. So, you can just copy and move files over in order to have a back up right? I think I understand what you are saying about versions, etc. What is the onedrive capacity with windows 10? Is it limited?


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## etaf (Oct 2, 2003)

> So, you can just copy and move files over in order to have a back up right?


Not really 
onedrive is not a backup - its just a synchronisation. If you think of it as a backup as a lot of people do , they can be very disappointed when they have a problem on the PC 
so if you accidentally delete the file on the PC onedrive - it will delete from the server on the internet and any other PC that happen to be connected 
And not recoverable from onedrive
so be very careful with what you mean by backup and what you expect to be able to do

The space on onedrive is 5GB free with a Microsoft (MS) email address - if you purchase OFFICE 365 from MS you get 1TB of storage with onedrive

Sorry for being pedantic - just that I have seen a lot of people who have lost important documents thinking onedrive was a backup


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## lschul (Oct 29, 2001)

No I appreciate your candor...the guy that was selling it at BestBuy made it sound like a back up. I guess the use of it is if your hard drive crashes or your computer gets destroyed you can download and back up, if it gets deleted you're done. Right?


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## etaf (Oct 2, 2003)

thats a common misconception of onedrive - even Microsoft would not advise to use as a backup

if your pc happened to delete the folder for whatever reason and crash - then the files are lost - onedrive would sync and also delete the files

what where bestbuy trying to sell you OFFICE 365???

i use onedrive to sync my folders across multiple PCs and it works great 
if i start any PC - onedrive has the files 
BUT if i delete a file by mistake and do not realise that I have deleted and start a 2nd PC that file is deleted across all the PCs 
http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/onedrive-will-work-windows-10/

i use a 3-2-1 strategy, 3 copies , 2 localy and 1 offsite/online (Not onedrive or google drive or iclouddrive)
as i want to keep a backup of versions
if i get the crypto virus - all onedrive files will be encrypted and useless - i need to be able to pull a previous version
to that I use idrive.com and secondcopy to copy versions on to external drives that are NOT always connected to the PCs


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## lschul (Oct 29, 2001)

I understand, thanks. So, you think idrive is a good program? I wasn't too happy with carbonite...


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## etaf (Oct 2, 2003)

i think so 
what did you not like about carbonite???

i like idrive.co because you can use all devices ios,andriod,mac,windows for the one subscription
try it for free , you get 5gb of space free
see how it goes for you


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## lschul (Oct 29, 2001)

I am looking at that now, it looks like you can put multiple computers on it. We have a laptop and my desktop, that's it. I just want to make sure both are protected. Sounds like that will work. Can you keep both machines or backups, separate and independent of each other?


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## etaf (Oct 2, 2003)

Yes on idrive - they are all separate - just the space is shares - However the login on the web will see ALL the devices 
so they are not seperate in that way 
You will see an entery for the Laptop and an Entry for the Desktop and if you use a tablet and phone - they will be separate too
Try the free 5gb and select just one folder on each to see how it works


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## lschul (Oct 29, 2001)

I went with a 2 year plan after chatting with a rep. It seems pretty simple to use. Now I just need to go get the other computer going...backup seems to be working fine.


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## etaf (Oct 2, 2003)

yes, i think its very good and use on a few client machines who backup
Laptops, PCs , phones(images) , tablet(images) Macs etc
you can also setup an email to notify you each time the backup has worked - also quite useful

As you have seen the Chat is very good as well, and have answered and given me assurances on a number of issues - including recovery of old versions and they have recovered peoples data after an Cypto infection
I am not affiliated in anyway to them, nor is this forum, just my personal experience

remember your upload speed is a lot slower than your download speed - so it may take a while to get the first set of data across - Days - depending on the speed you have

use www.speedtest.net and NOTE - its the UPLOAD speed that will be used


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## lschul (Oct 29, 2001)

I appreciate it. I am thinking of trying it on my iphone too. Icloud is too small in capacity and I don't know if I like the verizon one.


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## etaf (Oct 2, 2003)

it does NOT back up all the device like icloud - Only the Data Photos / calendar /contacts etc
https://www.idrive.com/mobile-faq

its not like icloud where you can get a brand new device and load that from your icloud back
the storage plans from apple are quite cheap


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## lschul (Oct 29, 2001)

Right etaf, just a document etc that's fine with me. I think it'll work for us. Thanks for all the info!


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## etaf (Oct 2, 2003)

you are welcome


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