How to Back Up OneDrive™: Detailed Tutorial

Imagine losing vital business files with no way to recover them – a nightmare scenario for any business owner or administrator. OneDrive, the cornerstone of the Microsoft (formerly Office) 365 platform, holds all your crucial data, making its protection non-negotiable.

Without proper OneDrive security, businesses risk experiencing a data breach and losing critical data, which could result in serious consequences. As a SaaS data protection company, we’ve helped many companies to prevent their business-critical OneDrive data from loss.

In this guide, you’ll discover how to back up OneDrive using both native and third-party tools.

Microsoft 365 OneDrive Back up and Recovery Options

In some cases, Microsoft 365 retains and allows the recovery of deleted items from the Recycle bin. However, there are limitations to native backup functionality. You can read about them in our overview of Microsoft 365 backup and recovery policies.

Microsoft’s native features are designed for service uptime and data durability, but they do not provide protection against all forms of data loss. That’s why backing up OneDrive files to other clouds and storage is a good way to keep them secure. Let’s take a look at some popular methods: 

Backing up OneDrive files to computer/hard drive

It is possible to manually back up OneDrive files to an external computer/hard drive to keep them secure in case your Microsoft 365 account is compromised. So, how to back up OneDrive to an external drive?

1. Go to your OneDrive.
2. Select Files and choose the one you need to back up. You can also select all the files and folders you have on your OneDrive by clicking on the Toggle selection for all items.
3. Select Download by right-clicking the mouse or clicking on the three dots.
4. Choose the destination. The downloaded files can be copied further, for instance, to an external hard drive.

Though not exactly a backup, this operation may help you to preserve the selected OneDrive files. Needless to say, this method has an enormous number of limitations. Some of them are:

1. Lack of regularity, as all actions are manual.
2. Time-consuming, due to the manual actions.
3. Backups may be lost if something happens to the computer/hard drive.
4. OneDrive recovery becomes complicated if the amount of data is significant.

That’s why using automatic backup software is a better choice than relying on manual backups to hard drives.

Using OneDrive & Sync Client

OneDrive Sync is a Windows application that allows you to synchronize your desktop files and folders with your OneDrive. The settings allow you to automatically copy all the changes in your documents on the cloud to your desktop folder and vice versa. New documents can also be copied to your computer, which creates a backup for your OneDrive.

Note: If you have Windows 10 or newer, the OneDrive Sync Client is already installed on your computer. For other versions of Windows and Mac, visit this page to download the app. To set up the Client and sync files between your computer and the cloud, read this tutorial for Windows.

Limitations of this approach:

1. If you use two-sided synchronization and something happens to them on one side, you risk losing files on both locations.
2. There is a risk of infecting your OneDrive with ransomware – if your files on the desktop get hit, the synchronization will transfer infected files to the cloud and spread across it.
3. Backing up OneDrive to your local disk requires lots of free data storage space. This is problematic when you have high volumes of data to back up.

How to Back Up Your Computer to OneDrive

OneDrive offers a flexible and user-friendly solution that works across various devices and operating systems. All you need is an internet connection and a Microsoft account.

You have different options to back up your computer:

1. Using the OneDrive App: For seamless, automatic backups, the OneDrive desktop app for Windows and Mac is the recommended method. It creates a sync folder on your computer that automatically keeps your files backed up to the cloud. 
2. Manual Backups: If you prefer more control over what you back up, you can manually upload files and folders through the OneDrive website. 
3. Microsoft 365 Integration: Microsoft 365 apps are configured to save to OneDrive by default. Microsoft also allows you to change this setting if needed, for flexibility.

Remember, that you need an Internet connection for syncing. They’ll be synchronized automatically once you go online on the respective device.

This section contains a detailed guide to backing up OneDrive using an app and without it.

Using OneDrive for backup with the installed app

To automatically sync files to OneDrive you need a special tool installed on your PC. (Windows or Mac OS). If you already have it, skip steps 1-8 and go straight to step 9:

1. To install OneDrive desktop go to Microsoft’s page. Download the app and initiate the setup:

2. Open the OneDrive program. You’ll be asked to enter your email. Log in using your credentials (skip steps 3 and 4). If you don’t have an account or you want to create a new one, click on the Create Account button.
3. You will be redirected to the OneDrive section of the Microsoft website. Click ‘Sign up for free.’ 
4. Enter your email and complete the sign-up process to create a OneDrive account.
5. Once you complete the signup, you will be redirected to your OneDrive personal page:

6. Now it’s time to complete synchronization. Return to the OneDrive application. Enter the email address of your account.
7. Choose the placement for your OneDrive folders. By default, it will be placed on C:\Users\[Username]\OneDrive, but you can change it by clicking on the ‘Change location’ button below. 

8. The program will offer to sync your OneDrive with your computer. You can opt in or out by ticking the boxes: 

9. That completes the synchronization of your OneDrive with your computer. Press ‘Open my OneDrive Folder’ to start the backup of your important information.

Here’s what your default OneDrive folder looks like on Windows 10 / 11:

10. Backing up your files and folders to your OneDrive.

Let’s say you need to store a folder with important screenshots in OneDrive and use them on another PC. To do this, you need to place the folder inside your local OneDrive folder. There are 2 common ways to do it:

1. Drag and Drop: You can simply drag the folder from its original location to the OneDrive folder on your computer. The original file will be moved to the OneDrive folder. This means that you will have one copy of the folder on your PC (in the OneDrive folder). This copy will be synchronized with the cloud. 
2. Copy and Paste: You can copy the folder from its source location and then paste it into your OneDrive folder. The original folder will remain in its initial location, and a new copy will be created inside the OneDrive folder on your PC.
   You will now have 2 identical folders on your computer. Only the one stored in the OneDrive folder will be synchronized with the cloud.

Let’s say you had a folder named ‘Screenshots’ located in your ‘Pictures’ folder, and then you copy-pasted it to the OneDrive folder. If you later add a new file to the initial folder (in ‘Pictures’), it won’t appear in your cloud.

To have that new file backed up to OneDrive, you need to copy or drag this file to the second folder that is located inside your OneDrive folder.

To make your OneDrive experience better across devices, you can get the mobile app and work with your files on the go.

How to back up files to OneDrive without an installed app (OneDrive for Linux OS)

Sometimes, you can’t or might not want to install the OneDrive app on the PC you are using. It might be somebody else’s computer, or it might have an OS other than Windows or Mac. You can still use OneDrive to store and access your files from any web browser on any operating system.

Since you won’t be using a sync client, this isn’t a true automated backup. Instead, you’ll be performing a manual upload of your files or folders to OneDrive via its web interface. 

Here’s an example of OneDrive folder back up on Ubuntu (Linux OS). Note that it can be applied to any OS.

Backing up files/folders:

1. Open your web browser and go to the OneDrive website. Sign in (or Sign up if you don’t have an account). 
2. Go to your OneDrive folder and click Upload.
3. Choose what you want to upload (Files or Folders).
4. Then, in the pop-up window, pick a file/folder you wish to upload. Confirm the action.
5. Wait until the upload is complete.

You can also use drag and drop to upload files as follows:

1. Sign in to OneDrive and navigate to the location you want to upload files or folders to. 
2. Open your computer’s file manager. 
3. Select the files or folders you want to back up. 
4. Drag the selected items from your computer’s file manager and drop them into the OneDrive web page. 
5. Wait until the upload is complete.

How to extract information from your OneDrive to a computer without the app:

Sometimes you’ll need to download files from your OneDrive to a computer that has no sync folder and app. It’s easy.

1. Open your OneDrive in a browser. You might need to log in first.
2. Pick a folder or a file you want to download. Right-click on it and select the ‘Download’ option.

If you download a folder, you’ll get a zip file. So if you don’t have a tool to unzip, the easiest way is to download files instead of a folder.

How to stop backing up all the files to OneDrive

Here are the steps to disabling automatic backup on Windows system:

1. Right-click on the OneDrive app icon from your taskbar. Click on Settings.

2. In the “Sync and backup” section, click on “Manage backup”.
3. Disable all the folders (or specific folders if you want to disable syncing only for specific folders).

4. You might see a pop-up asking for confirmation. Click “Stop backup” and click “Close”. This will disable automatic sync.

How to back up data to OneDrive on your mobile device

OneDrive has an app for mobile devices. You can download the OneDrive mobile app from Microsoft’s official page here.

Here’s how you can upload files to OneDrive using the mobile app:

1. In the OneDrive app, tap the OneDrive + icon at the top of the screen.
2. Then tap to Take a photo, Scan a document, Create a folder, or Upload a file or photo.

You might have to give access to your device’s camera or files to upload data. OneDrive also allows you to automatically sync photos and videos. Check instructions for Android and iOS.

Is OneDrive a safe backup for sensitive data?

OneDrive isn’t a cloud backup tool. Technically, it’s a cloud sync software with storage capacity. There’s a cool article on Techradar explaining the difference between these types of tools. We summarized it in the table below:

Since OneDrive is a cloud sync tool, it is not primarily designed for backup and recovery. However, most people and even companies perceive it as a safe data backup tool.

This series of cyberattacks in the UK showed how vulnerable OneDrive is in reality. Many firms that were using it as a computer backup services had to pay a ransom.

Unfortunately, the power of the Microsoft brand gives people a false impression of safety. Furthermore, the tool is marketed as safe cloud storage.

Are there any threats to my data stored on OneDrive?

There are several concerns around your data safety on OneDrive:

1. Manual deletion of files and folders

Be it an evil intent or accident, who cares if your sensitive data is gone?

Any person who has the access to edit your files and folders can easily delete them:

Luckily, OneDrive has a Recycle bin with a Restore function: 

Unluckily, there’s a delete function too. For personal accounts, items in the Recycle Bin automatically get deleted from there after 30 days. 

For business accounts, when you delete an item from the OneDrive Recycle Bin, it goes to the second-storage Recycle Bin. An administrator can restore data from here within 93 days. Beyond these retentions, data is permanently deleted. The worst part is that it gets synchronized with the OneDrive folder on your computer once it goes online.

Keep in mind that Microsoft 365 for business enables Data Retention policies and labels. You can apply them to files that should remain unchanged. In this case, it’ll be impossible to edit or delete them.

Human factor

The nature of OneDrive makes it especially exposed to the impact of human factors. Let’s take a closer look at each of them:

File Sharing

OneDrive is a collaboration tool. That’s why there’s always a risk to share your sensitive data with third parties.

Unless the admin has set the sharing restrictions for certain types of data, users of OneDrive for Business can freely give access and edit rights to their data to anyone. There are three standard options for sharing OneDrive docs: 

1. with other users of your company’s OneDrive
2. with certain people by their email
3. with anyone on the Internet

The last method is the riskiest.

To tackle this problem, companies need to create policies on using and sharing files.

There’s another aspect of sharing that makes OneDrive especially vulnerable. The more files you have the harder it is to monitor and control risks.

For example, Company ABC has 50 employees. On average, each of them has 20 files in 5 folders. Additionally, each of the firm’s 5 departments has 50 files in 10 folders for the department’s use only and 20 files in 2 folders shared with other departments. Furthermore, there are 50 files in 10 folders shared across the company.

In addition to that, there are about 300 files that employees shared with people outside the company (e.g. clients, vendors, and service providers). Around 40 files contain sensitive data that have restricted access. The turnover is 5 people per year.

Together these files and folders create a complex structure. An IT security department might lack the resources to detect data violations. Sometimes it takes months for anyone to spot the loss, corruption, or illegal copying of the files.

Multiple devices having access to OneDrive

The cloud sharing idea stemmed from an incident when a manager forgot his USB drive at work. Needless to say, his business trip wasn’t successful. Nowadays, all you need to get to your working files is a mobile device and Internet access.

Unfortunately, these practices bear a risk. A lost or stolen device can become a gateway for cybercriminals.

Stolen credentials

Does any of the following practices ring a bell to you:

1. Entering your account credentials in public (e.g. an airport or a cafe) and not noticing who’s standing behind your back?
2. Using the same credentials and password for several accounts?
3. Turning off two-step authentication?
4. Writing down your account name and password and leaving it on your Desktop, or next to your computer, or in your wallet, bag, the mobile case?
5. Sharing your credentials with others?

Any of these practices might have severe outcomes. Somebody can use your credentials to access sensitive data, copy it, delete it and/or corrupt it.

Ransomware threat to OneDrive backups

We have a separate article describing what ransomware is in great detail. In short, it is a “virus” that prevents you from accessing your data. Want to get it back? You’ll have to pay a ransom to cybercriminals.

The cost of damage is expected to reach $57B in 2025. And experts expect it to reach $20B per month in 2031.Learn what you didn’t know about OneDrive Ransomware Protection and how it can affect your data safety.

Using a Third-Party OneDrive Backup Solution for Businesses

Office 365 back up methods can serve you well as a temporary solution, but it can’t be your long-term backup strategy, especially if you need to back up OneDrive for business. All the limitations of the native backup options can lead to a loss of critical data, which can be catastrophic if we talk about high volumes of business or sensitive data.

The most effective, secure, and user-friendly way to back up your OneDrive and other Microsoft 365 files is by using specialized software. There are many third-party tools on the market to manage backup, which makes it challenging to choose the right one for you.

Let’s take a look at how such software works:

(In case you are or will be looking for a solution, we created a detailed comparison of the best ones in the article Top 4 Microsoft 365 Cloud Backup Solutions Comparison)

How to Back up OneDrive Using an Automated Service

We are going to illustrate the OneDrive backup process using our OneDrive backup service SpinOne. To test the waters, you can back up your OneDrive and other Office 365 services by signing up for our free 15-day trial, no strings attached:

1. Sign up for SpinOne Microsoft 365 Back up and Recovery. Done! Your OneDrive data is backed up from now on.
   Although we could have finished the guide here, we’ll show you around and provide more useful information about configuring backup and recovery.
2. Go to Users. And choose the User whose data you want to backup. And click on OneDrive.
3. Pick the folders you want to backup and click Backup.
4. You can see your OneDrive information here. You can click Backup to back up your information whenever you wish. Click Restore to recover your data if needed. Backing up and recovering other Office 365 services will be similar.

Conclusion

While OneDrive is a great tool for collaboration and file storage within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, relying solely on its native features for data production can expose businesses to significant risks. The inherent limitations of sync services, coupled with threats like accidental deletion, human error, and ransomware, underscore the critical need for a robust independent backup strategy. By understanding the distinctions between cloud sync and true cloud backup, and by considering specialised third-party solutions, organizations can ensure their vital OneDrive data is comprehensively protected, recoverable, and resilient against unforeseen challenges. Don’t leave your business-critical data to chance; try SpinOne OneDrive backup solution today!

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