Backup OneDrive to External HDD?

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ashtonaut

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#281368 14-Feb-2021 07:28

I have a 1TB OneDrive account that has over 500GB of data in it.

I know there is probably some level of redundancy in the MS cloud, but I would like to maintain a copy of everything that’s in OD on a USB 1TB external HDD as well, just in case. I don’t want to run this backup very regularly, perhaps every 6 months.

My laptop HDD (256GB) doesn’t have enough space to hold everything that’s in OD, so I use files on demand.

Can anyone suggest the easiest way to back up the entire contents of OD to the external HDD?

Is there a more sophisticated solution than straight drag and drop? I assume doing this will download (and then presumably keep) a local copy of everything in OD on my laptop HDD as part of the process, which I want to avoid as my laptop HDD will run out of space. Drag and drop will also be a nightmare when I try to do the next backup (I want something with some intelligence that doesn’t replace unless the file has been updated since the last backup).

CYaBro

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#2655891 14-Feb-2021 08:21

Veeam has a free version of their 365 backup software.
That should do what you want without having to download the data to your computer first.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

lNomNoml

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#2655901 14-Feb-2021 09:06

Robocopy can do it as well, simple, free and built into Windows already.

Just create a batch file like the following and make a task in Task Scheduler if you want it on a schedule, if you want to just plug in and run you can just make the batch file.

robocopy (source) (destination) /MIR - /MIR will only copy files that have changed.

/xd "E:\7D2D\Backup2\Info" - You can exclude folders that are on the drive as well, so for example if you have 3 folders on the external drive such as E:\Folder1 E:\Folder2 and E:\Folder3 you will want to put /xd for folder2 and folder3 if you do not want those deleted, if you are only going to have the files from OD on the external drive them this isn't required.

/LOG:"E:\7D2D\Logs\Saves2.log" - You can have a log file that logs what files are copied and if there are any issues.

Example:

robocopy "C:\Server\Saves" "E:\7D2D\Backup2\Saves" /MIR /xd "E:\7D2D\Backup2\Info" /LOG:"C:\Users\User\Desktop\Saves2.log"

An old program that I used to use that I believe will also do what you want is SyncToy - https://windowsreport.com/synctoy-windows-10/

Stu

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#2655915 14-Feb-2021 09:34

Goodsync will do it also. I do the same thing, and also keep copies of my parent's OneDrive files. All done with Goodsync.

People often mistake me for an adult because of my age.

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ashtonaut

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#2655940 14-Feb-2021 10:16

Thanks for the suggestions, I’ll check them out.

How do these methods deal with the limited space on my laptop hard drive? I assume everything that’s copied to the external drive has to pass through the laptop’s disk, hopefully there is some intelligence that doesn’t fill up my laptop drive during the process.

Thanks again.

lNomNoml

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#2656091 14-Feb-2021 12:58

ashtonaut: Thanks for the suggestions, I’ll check them out.

How do these methods deal with the limited space on my laptop hard drive? I assume everything that’s copied to the external drive has to pass through the laptop’s disk, hopefully there is some intelligence that doesn’t fill up my laptop drive during the process.

Thanks again.

Robocopy and synctoy (if I remember correctly) will only copy changes as long as you use /MIR for Robocopy, it's very quick and intelligent I use it for all my backup jobs.

ashtonaut

614 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2656159 14-Feb-2021 15:40

The Veeam product only works with OneDrive for Business, not OneDrive personal.

Robocopy and Sync Toy rely on backing up using the windows path to a synchronised OneDrive library, which doesn't seem as robust as a direct OneDrive connection.

GoodSync looks promising, just a bit pricey.

rhy7s

618 posts

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#2656165 14-Feb-2021 15:51

Can you mount it to a drive letter and use the backup software of your choice?

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rhy7s

618 posts

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#2656209 14-Feb-2021 16:04

Rclone also an option.

ashtonaut

614 posts

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#2656210 14-Feb-2021 16:45

rhy7s:
Rclone also an option.

Looks interesting, I’ll definitely check that out.

I don’t want to mount as a drive letter, or backup as a ‘traditional’ windows folder, as in my experience OneDrive doesn’t always behave correctly as a standard Windows folder when you are using files on demand.

ANglEAUT

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#2656268 14-Feb-2021 17:20

You might want to look at Free File Sync as well.

Very fast copy & easy to use GUI. It has a built in connection to Google Drive, but not OneDrive. This would allow you to do a direct sync without having to worry about local disk space. Looks like the GoodSync connector to OneDrive would also bypass your local storage.

I think both Robocopy & FreeFilesync would "touch" the files, causing a locally cached copy in OneDrive before it is copied to your external HDD. This would cause your local HDD to fill up.

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Stu

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#2656272 14-Feb-2021 17:40

GoodSync, with default settings, doesn't leave anything on my local storage. If you're using deletion protection, and alter the default setting for the location of the gsync folders, the deleted files would be held on the local drive. Leave things as default and it works brilliantly.

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timmmay

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#2656349 14-Feb-2021 20:06

I would use Restic a free, open source block based backup tool. Create a repository on your external drive, run restic, it will back up new files or changed to the repository hard drive without copying them to your PC. The advantage over sync tools is it creates incremental backups that mean any corruption / deletes are versioned so you can roll it back. You can purge old versions. It's command line so not as easy to use as some tools but the investment in time to learn it is worthwhile IMHO. I actually backup my work laptop to OneDrive using restic, to give me versioned backups in case my laptop fails - few businesses backup data on laptops, and generally it's not essential but it's useful to have.

Here's a few commands that would get you started. I rename the restic exe to just restic.exe and put it on the path. I assume OneDrive is mapped to your PC at c:\onedrive

Init (run this once only)

set RESTIC_PASSWORD=akusnkalbvnjashb
restic.exe init --repo N:\BackupsLocal\Restic\OneDrive

Backup (run as often as you like)

set RESTIC_PASSWORD=akusnkalbvnjashb

restic.exe --cleanup-cache --exclude c:\onedrive\temp --repo N:\BackupsLocal\Restic\OneDrive backup onedrive

Prune (run this every 3 - 6 months)

set RESTIC_PASSWORD=akusnkalbvnjashb

restic.exe --repo N:\BackupsLocal\Restic\OneDrive forget --keep-daily 7 --keep-weekly 8 --keep-monthly 24
restic.exe --repo N:\BackupsLocal\Restic\OneDrive prune

ashtonaut

614 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2657016 15-Feb-2021 20:14

Goodsync partially achieved what I wanted, but it was slow, and didn't sync everything, even when i left it overnight. Plus it costs $50 per year when I'll probably only use it once every 12 months.

Restic looks interesting, but synchronising using the local C: copy of OneDrive files isn't ideal.

Rclone is lightweight, really fast, and does exactly what I need and nothing more, for free. Easy setup to create the right online links to OneDrive, then easy to get going from the command line. It's currently pulling down the files that Goodsync missed and maxing out my 100MB fibre connection doing it. Thanks @rhy7s!!

mdav056

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#2657127 15-Feb-2021 21:00

+1 for Robocopy, -1 for Goodsync (I found this very cumbersome when I tried it recently)

gml