Win10, OneDrive Question

[weltweit]

I don't really suspect a keylogger, I just recalled a private investigator boasting that they had an associate who could install them on targets computers on demand and get them access to bank account details.

 

[Artaxerxes]

Half or more of hacking is relying on users doing something stupid, whether that’s handing out passwords or clicking the suspicious link.

The l337 world you see on things like Mr Robot is a small percentage of it.

 

[cybershot]

I am realising though that onedrive is a cloud sync rather than a straight backup. So if I corrupt a file on my HDD, onedrive will work to ensure it has synced that corrupt file in the cloud.

I dislike this autosave in office 365 though I have yet to remember to switch it off. Should do that next. So what happens is I have a file called June21.docx and I want to make a july21.docx. The simplest way is to open june and make a few changes then save that as july. But with autosave that would be bad, because it would overwrite june with the first data I have added for july. With autosave I have to immediately create july then savings will be to the right file. I have to overcome years of working in a particular way.

I do this too. Thankfully the revert to earlier version has got me out of jail a few times.

which is also you’re get out of jail for corrupt files and ransomware, but I’m not sure how long the free consumer version keeps previous versions for. Wether it’s date period or x amount of edits. Which is the problem. You’ve got to notice it’s broke before that period expires but the same could be said for your own physical backups. It’s only as good as the last backup you took. Unless you go down the road of multiple backups.

 

[NoXion]

Exactly. Cloud backups are a no brainer for an average user, you just don't have to remember.

When our desktop died I knew I could just wipe it and all my partners important work was backed up and ready to go.

Clearly I'm not an average user, since local backups have served me well enough for just over a decade. If cloud sync isn't a backup, then what the hell is it? All OneDrive has done is annoy the fuck out of me, with its endless whinging about running out of space and splashing ugly little icons everywhere.

 

[Artaxerxes]

Clearly I'm not an average user, since local backups have served me well enough for just over a decade. If cloud sync isn't a backup, then what the hell is it? All OneDrive has done is annoy the fuck out of me, with its endless whinging about running out of space and splashing ugly little icons everywhere.

Local backups are fine, better than no backups but if you have both backup and your standard stuff on site your are more likely to lose both if fire or theft occurs.

Local covers you against your kit and main rig going wrong. Offsite/Cloud covers you against something major happening like a tornado tearing your flat down

 

[weltweit]

So here is a question about my current onedrive setup.

On my actual desktop I have a shortcut to spreadsheet1.odt pointing at the file / directory below

In c:\users\weltweit\onedrive\desktop I have the actual file spreadsheet1.odt

On my cloud I have the file c:\users\weltweit\onedrive\desktop the file spreadsheet1.odt

If I carry on like this, will the two instances of the actual file continue into the future? There is no way that the actual file in the c:\users\weltweit\onedrive\desktop folder will be replaced with the shortcut from the actual desktop?

 

[cybershot]

Are you sure it’s a shortcut and not the actual file? If the file and the shortcut are both on the desktop then you’ll see the it twice. One without the shortcut arrow in the corner and one without.

eg in picture below the icons with an arrow are a shortcut. The ones without are actual files or folders.

 

[weltweit]

cybershot yes I am sure the icons on my actual desktop are shortcuts and I can check their path to the C:\user\weltweit\onedrive\desktop folder (plus they only appear once)

 

[cybershot]

I think I’ve miss understood. The confusion is because you have a folder in your onedrive called desktop!

the file on your actual desktop is a shortcut pointing into the folder.

so yes. The file will carry on co existing on your device and in the cloud.

If the ‘desktop’ folder on your one drive isn’t actually syncing up your physical desktop. You may want to rename the folder to something else other than desktop to eliminate the confusion. Is there already a folder called documents in your onedrive as well? Move it all to there and bin the desktop folder in the onedrive folder or just rename it to something else.

You’ll then need to create a new actual shortcut to the file that’s on the physical desktop because the onedrive ‘desktop’ folder will no longer exist and it won’t be able to find it!

hopefully that makes sense.

*ensure you have actual backups before making any changes you’re not confident about

 

[UnderOpenSky]

Clearly I'm not an average user, since local backups have served me well enough for just over a decade. If cloud sync isn't a backup, then what the hell is it? All OneDrive has done is annoy the fuck out of me, with its endless whinging about running out of space and splashing ugly little icons everywhere.

Well as you've said it's easy to turn off.

Its not perfect, because as people have said about files corrupting and stuff, but it's better then what most people have and it's instant, so there's no need to remember. Personally I use Google Drive and I like the way data is synced between devices.

Local is also good if you have a good system, but as people have said fire and theft can be issue and most people don't keep it up to date.

Best of course is both.