Use OneDrive as additional backup location

Question

I'm trying to take advantage of the fact that OneDrive now offers unlimited space, and allows these files to not take up space locally. I already have a backup system in place, but I would like to add this as an additional offsite backup option.

My photo folder is 200GB+, and I want it to stay on my data drive, and be available offline. I imagine this is a common scenario.

Goals:

Keep my OneDrive on my SSD
Keep an offline copy of my files on my data drive
Keep an "online-only" copy of my photos in my OneDrive

My first instinct was junction points, but it sounds like they're not supported. Next, I tried Robocopy, but it doesn't like overwriting online-only files.

Is there a way to compare offline files and online-only OneDrive files, and overwrite those files if the source is newer?

Sure; I do this routinely with Goodsync its not free though. You can also do this by turning your OneDrive storage into share drive. You should be able to use any tool by doing that. — Ramhound, Nov 04 '14 at 16:54
So onedrive doesn't have a sync function like google drive, I guess i won't be installing it on my desktop. — jiggunjer, Jun 19 '15 at 10:45
@Nemo - OneDrive only exists as a desktop application for Windows and OS X. The question is in relation to using the desktop client functionality. The accepted answer written by the author very clearly indicates it is Windows. — Ramhound, Oct 27 '15 at 16:36

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 06 '14 at 13:44

4

I actually figured out how to do this without buying a 3rd party tool.

Basically, I just mount my OneDrive using WebDAV, and then I can use Robocopy to mirror the files.

I created detailed instructions here.

answered Nov 06 '14 at 13:44

Jason Young

239

2

Might want to disclose you're a Microsoft employee. – Sun Nov 06 '14 at 14:25
1

I'm not sure how that's relevant here, but it's disclosed at the top of my blog, the bottom of my blog, and in my twitter bio linked from my profile. This was completely for personal use of my own photos and had nothing to do with my day job. – Jason Young Nov 06 '14 at 14:49
IMO, non-disclosure of MS employment is a conflict of interest. 2) Gist of your tip: take the CID value in the OneDrive URL and map it to a drive letter: https://d.docs.live.net/YOUR_CID/ The login and password will be your Windows Live ID. I saved your detailed instructions on webarchive in case your blog post ever disappears. 3) I can confirm this works in Windows 7 32-bit using OneDrive personal.

Sun

Nov 06 '14 at 16:42

I found one limitation and a suggested fix for the WebDAV solution. Quoting the author of the idea: "The WebDAV Redirector has a default max file size of 50MB, but that can be changed; see the 'WebDAV Redirector Registry Settings' section of the following article: http://www.iis.net/learn/publish/using-webdav/using-the-webdav-redirector " I intend to try this myself today. – JustAMartin May 08 '15 at 07:11

Typo "2004-11-09" – Nemo Oct 08 '15 at 06:34

@Nemo - Saying there is a typo but not indicating where is not really helpful. – Ramhound Oct 27 '15 at 16:32

@Ramhound I indicated the exact word, how can I do more? – Nemo Oct 27 '15 at 19:49

In the blog post or the answer and why don't you just submit the correction? – Ramhound Oct 27 '15 at 20:00

@Ramhound there is no such word in the answer and if it were in the answer I wouldn't be able to submit a correction as the diff is less than 6 characters. – Nemo Oct 27 '15 at 20:02

I don't understand your comment! Please explain it – Ramhound Oct 27 '15 at 20:05

@nemo, I fixed the typo, it will be updated in the next push of the site. I actually do allow people to submit changes to pages. There is an edit button at the bottom. – Jason Young Oct 28 '15 at 12:25

Flagging to close as a link only answer. – James Jenkins Apr 11 '17 at 18:14

1

Please quote the essential parts of the answer from the reference link(s), as the answer can become invalid if the linked page(s) change. – DavidPostill Apr 11 '17 at 21:24

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 04 '14 at 23:18

0

In your OneDrive settings, you can decide which folders you do not want to sync (aka select sync - dropbox).

Go to the web interface of OneDrive.
Create a folder called archive
Go inside the archive folder
In your desktop client, go to Settings > Choose folders
Uncheck the archive folder
Back to the web interface, upload files you want into the archive folder
After content is uploaded to OneDrive, you can erase the local copy

No need to pay for a third party tool.

answered Nov 04 '14 at 23:18

Sun

6,318

Understood, but that doesn't cover this requirement: "Keep an offline copy of my files on my data drive" – Jason Young Nov 05 '14 at 13:03
I realize that is one of your goal points, but seems more like a software recommendation for that point. I feel it is separate question. Use bvckup. Go to the very bottom. Under download, look for the "last beta" link. You can use that to back up your SSD pictures to your data drive. – Sun Nov 05 '14 at 16:34
Actually, I mounted OneDrive over WebDAV, and that allowed me to simply use robocopy to mirror the folder without taking up any extra space. – Jason Young Nov 05 '14 at 19:52
How did you mount your OneDrive over WebDAV? Was that a third party program? Write your comment as an answer and you can mark it an answer if that is what ends up working for you. There's a lot of ways to do the same thing... – Sun Nov 05 '14 at 19:54
I'm writing it up now. Stay tuned. – Jason Young Nov 06 '14 at 12:58

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 27 '15 at 16:25

There is a open-source backup software that supports OneDrive as target: Duplicati (version 2.0 which is a preview currently only).

It stores block-level de-duplicated backups, so you cannot browse the files directly. The advantage is, that for incremental backups it only stores the changed blocks and they don't take much space!

I have a daily backup of all emails on my linux mailserver, dating back 11 months now and could restore the files how they where on every single day since that.

If anyone uses that, make sure to regularly try to restore a backup on a new user account/PC where duplicati doesn't have its database. A backup is only worth anything if you can restore it.

I use that solution for almost one year now, backing up files from one Linux server and three Windows PCs and had no problems so far!

If you need browsable, directly viewable copies of your files, this is probably not what you want. If you want a backup with incremental versions of your files that you can restore if anything happens to them, this is the way to go!

Don't forget to exclude the backup folder from syncing.

Use OneDrive as additional backup location

3 Answers3

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