this post was submitted on 11 Jan 2026
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When Windows users suddenly discover that their files have vanished from their desktops after interacting with OneDrive, the issue often stems from how Microsoft's cloud service integrates with the operating system. The automatic, near-invisible shift to cloud-based storage has triggered strong reactions from users who find the feature unintuitive and, in some cases, destructive to their local files.

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[–] tate@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

I've struggled to find an epithet for MS that would really sum up my anger in a single epic childish insult. Problem is, they already surpassed anything I could come up with.

They are tiny and flaccid, and no one should pay them any mind.

[–] eldebryn@lemmy.world 0 points 12 hours ago
[–] TheTimeKnife@lemmy.world 11 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Windows is just malware designed to steal files and data from the people "stuck" using it.

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[–] androidisking@lemmy.world 31 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (1 children)

The problem is most users are unaware their files were being stored on the cloud in the first place. I had a friend who kept downloading mods on his computer only to have them not show up if he was offline. Turns out it was stored on their servers and not locally. All due to Microsoft making sure they stay as little transparent as possible and not warn users that their files are automatically being stored to onedrive.

We need heavy regulation against these sociopaths before it's too late. This is only going to get worse.

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[–] redlemace@lemmy.world 38 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

They are so lucky microslop auto installs the Windows Backup app ..... oh wait .....

[–] b_tr3e@feddit.org 8 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

Years ago I tried to use the WIndows backup app to back up my system disk to a tape streamer. (Magnetic tapes were and still are useful as long term backup.) Result was a backup you coulndn't recover. I don't know what exactly was on the tape but it couldn't be read back. Tried the same with a harddisk, same result. I've since then used various external backup tools that had no problem creating backups that you actually can recover from, never looked back at MS backup. You just can't trust Microsoft to store any important data. You can only be sure they'll fuck up sooner or later and take things in you own hands.

[–] mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca 9 points 17 hours ago

I discovered this week that on three separate dates around a year ago, a bunch of files in my team's SharePoint were deleted. this went undiscovered until now because working with those projects was put on hold last year, and only the files themselves were deleted (not the folder structure).

if the folders had been deleted too, I might have noticed and thought "hey didn't we have something here?" but since only the files inside the folders and subfolders were deleted, and those files were not being worked with, I did not notice

tysm microsoft

[–] floofloof@lemmy.ca 27 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) (1 children)

It's infuriating. They silently move all your files to their cloud and you don't notice. Then one day they tell you that you have filled your cloud quota and they want more money. Switching to local only is, by design, a huge pain that tends to go wrong.

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[–] Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world 10 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Its because they are using it.

[–] ilinamorato@lemmy.world 1 points 10 hours ago

People often don't know that they have a choice. It enables itself.

[–] Auster@thebrainbin.org 15 points 23 hours ago

Why handle files? Let big bro Microsoft handle them for you.

[–] lazynooblet@lazysoci.al 9 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Does this not happen in Europe? Never known OneDrive to be so intrusive.

[–] Jesus_666@lemmy.world 6 points 19 hours ago

It's possible that this isn't enabled by default in Europe. I know that Microsoft has some things disabled in Europe in order to comply with local law and moving stuff to OneDrive without asking sounds like it might conflict with the GDPR.

[–] myfunnyaccountname@lemmy.zip 11 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

I let my work computer use one drive. It’s not my stuff. I don’t care about privacy or who has access to it or what MS does with it. Plus it’s easier when they force me to another machine.

[–] phanto@lemmy.ca 13 points 21 hours ago (3 children)

Admin here! OneDrive synced home folders at work. Everyone ignores saving because 'autosave'. Once a week at least, some staff member spends hours on something after the mandatory 90-day password change, never signed back in to OneDrive, and gets to kiss all that work goodbye. Also, once a quarter at least, someone was working on a document shared to the by an employee who just quit, so we have to frantically 'unfire' someone's account so the suddenly missing document can be retrieved.

[–] Ludicrous0251@piefed.zip 11 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

90-day password changes?? You monster!!

[–] phanto@lemmy.ca 4 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

sigh I know. It's my boss that implemented the policy... But it was after she audited password ages and a dictionary and found that CompanyName123 was universal and for years at a stretch.

[–] JohnEdwa@sopuli.xyz 7 points 19 hours ago

Ah, such nostalgia. I used a complex password until they forced monthly resets on us and I forgot mine a few times. After that, "FuckingPassword1", "FuckingPassword2", FuckingPassword3" etc with a mysterious post-it note on my table with a single number. Very memorable, still remember it well after a decade.

[–] myfunnyaccountname@lemmy.zip 2 points 19 hours ago

If it’s something I care about, code and scripts I use for my admin stuff, it’s on GitHub. Stuff that I will keep when I leave or get fired/laid off. The stupid bullshit paperwork for work, can’t care less if onedrive eats it. But I know exactly what you are talking about, been there and done that.

[–] Brkdncr@lemmy.world 0 points 16 hours ago

As the admin you should fix onedrive seamless sso so th yr don’t need to worry about signin.

[–] zqwzzle@lemmy.ca 9 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

On the other hand, a lot of people are learning how important a tested backup strategy is.

[–] b_tr3e@feddit.org 8 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (1 children)

...and don't forget re-testing your backups regularily. I had a really good backup strategy on my Loonix machine. Automatic (or it won't be done), tested, fool proof. When I somehow crashed a somewhat complex encrypted LVM array while swapping HDDs against SSDs, I had to recover from backup. Unfortunately I had become a better fool than I was when I set up backup4l. I had changed the compression algo, made a tiny mistate in the config and failed to realize that for six months I had been storing empty backups every day. Outch.

[–] suicidaleggroll@lemmy.world 4 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Notifications will go a long way toward helping with that. Check all assumptions, check all exit codes, notify and stop if anything is amiss. I also have my backup script notify on success, with the time it took to back up and the size and delta size (versus the previous backup) of the resulting backup. 99% of errors get caught by the checks and I get a failure notification. But just in case something silently goes wrong, the size of the backup (too big or too small) is another obvious indicator that something went wrong.

[–] b_tr3e@feddit.org 4 points 19 hours ago

I know. I just had become lazy enough to take the daily notification's subject line ("backup4l has run successfully") as evidence that everything was OK. If I had looked inside the bloody mail I'd have notices that the backup's size was 0B all the time because my self-rolled XZ-compression script failed to add data to the archives it "successfully" created. That's what I meant with "re-testing" - I should better have written "re-validate". My unforgiveable fault was not to look directly at the generated archives after changing the compression from bz2 to xz. Which was pretty pointless anyway as it turned out.

[–] pyrinix@kbin.melroy.org 2 points 23 hours ago (3 children)

Ha, shows you right.

God, people, just get yourselves flash drives or an external drive. Cloud storage is dumb.

You could make either of those options last through your entire lifetime if you care for them properly. But I guess people enjoy the idea of going "huh?" whenever files mysteriously disappear from cloud storage.

[–] degenerate_neutron_matter@fedia.io 21 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Most people aren't choosing to enable OneDrive; it's enabled by default, and not obvious how to disable.

[–] pyrinix@kbin.melroy.org -2 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Stop excusing the stupid. People are capable to learn to avoid it and disable it.

[–] AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net 6 points 18 hours ago

Windows update will frequently reenable OneDrive. Microsoft systematically undermines people ability to understand and control their own device.

[–] Triumph@fedia.io 15 points 22 hours ago

It's not dumb as a concept. Cloud storage in a data center offers far more safety than an external drive of any kind.

But it should not be the only place your data is stored. It should ideally be the third place.

[–] ji59@hilariouschaos.com 8 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

While I agree with you, most people don't understand what cloud is and since Microsoft is pushing users to use OneDrive, general user would just turn it on just to get rid of the window.

[–] Sammy 7 points 22 hours ago

Exactly. I work with the Elderly and it's been a struggle to a) explain what OneDrive is and b) show the how to locally save because W11 defaults to saving to cloud.

It's an absolute mess and I've gotten at least 3 people to start using Linux, just a little.

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