Microsoft Responds to OneDrive Mac User Criticism Following Decision to Enforce Files On-Demand Feature [Updated]

[Nozuka]

On my gaming PC i have it all synced.

But luckily on my Mac i was already using files on demand.
This allows me to always buy the smallest SSD Apple offers without any problem. Don't want to pay their silly prices for bigger storage.

 

[robertcoogan]

I don't use it. I don't always have 100% reliable internet service, so keeping things local makes more sense to me. Cloud services and software don't always seem to keep pace with each other anyway, so I avoid them (mostly).

 

[guzhogi]

I have found that iCloud Drive and Google Drive both do a HORRIBLE job of syncing files to the cloud. Both iCloud and Google share a problem where the files are mainly stored in the cloud, which creates issues of file sizing being larger than the drive space, thus limiting or making it impossible to move files. Additionally, it makes offline work difficult.

Alternatively, Dropbox has many customizations and you can easy select, down to each individual file, whether it is local or cloud based and you can easily change this.

Turning off iCloud Drive made things so much smoother and I just stopped using Google Drive. I simply store everything in DropBox and there are even settings for your user folders to be synced with DropBox.

I don't use Microsoft One Drive, but I suspect those who want the Files on Demand turned off do so for similar problems with iCloud and Google.

My dad wants to use this writing app called Scrivener. It only syncs with Dropbox, not iCloud. I guess Dropbox allows better syncing of Scrivener files than iCloud could ever do. Since my da, who's not at all tech-savvy, couldn't figure out how to use Dropbox.

 

[TheMacDaddy1]

OneDrive should do delta sync well, as this used to be an issue in the past I frequently encountered as well. Not anymore though. These days OneDrive seems to have its house in order.

Delta Sync for all files from all client types was complete in April of 2020 according to what I read.

 

[RalfTheDog]

Sounds like a lot of switching, and more switching (CentOS) only to get away from vendors you do not like??? Work harder not smarter??

iCloud is anything but fantastic IMHO.

When CentOS was purchased by Red Hat, it became the experimental build and Red Hat became the production version. I don't mind paying for software, but keeping track of software licenses is not fun. Beyond that, RH has lots of garbage that we do not need. It is overly complex software with lots of proprietary libraries. You can strip all that out, but at that point, you are just dealing with a production version of Cent, only with all the licensing issues. Ubuntu is far easier to manage and is far less likely to make big changes that break your software on their long term support versions.

 

[guzhogi]

This allows me to always buy the smallest SSD Apple offers without any problem. Don't want to pay their silly prices for bigger storage.

I love the hardware integration Apple has… when it works. It sucks when I want/need to upgrade or repair something. I basically have to replace the entire device rather than "Oh, here's a new ssd I bought at Best Buy."

 

[Dorv]

The "Always Keep on This Device" functionality isn't working on my machine. I'm hoping it's just a bug that will get fixed when I get the next enterprise push of the app, but it's frustrating.

 

[velocityg4]

Microsoft to complaining users.
User: (getting mad) Now look here, we just want to kn--
MS: Ah don' wanna talk to you no more, you empty-headed animal food-trough
wiper! Ah fart in your general direction! Your mother was a hamster, and
your father smelt of elderberries!
User: We just want to sync our files.
S: No!! Now go away, or I shall taunt you a second time!

 

[saudor]

OneDrive should do delta sync well, as this used to be an issue in the past I frequently encountered as well. Not anymore though. These days OneDrive seems to have its house in order.

Yeah it's definitely gotten better but when i tried it last month, there were still issues - especially with photoshop. Was working on a 1gb file and every time i hit the save button, it would upload about 700-800mb of the file. If i were to hit the save button again before it finishes, it would restart from 0 again.

With dropbox, the same change would only upload about 20-50mb

Moving one of the objects over by a pixel, onedrive still uploads 1/3 of the file while dropbox is almost instant.

EDIT: this is on APFS. I wonder if HFS might be better.

 

[vallfjallet]

I think the new implementation is not a problem. You can still store all your files locally, by selecting "Always keep on this device".

I do think the update of OneDrive was rushed. Autosave was broken. My business account seemed to be migrated, but my personal account was still stored the old way. I had to re-install onedrive to get it fixed.

However, now the old local OneDive files are still hiding somewhere on my disk, occupying my disk space. Not sure how to reclaim that 500gb :/

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

My brain:

 

[Bustycat]

Microsoft only explained. All issues for OneDrive still exist.

 

[4jasontv]

At this point, Apple and Microsoft just need to work together. Hate the fact, I have to sit and download and set up all of my applications individually.

I can’t imagine they don’t. Microsoft is the largest 3rd party App Developer for the Macintosh.

 

[Durafab]

For a bunch of Mac users who love to piss and moan about how they hate Microsoft and Windows, it's extremely satisfying to see them all crying when the thing they need doesn't work for them the way they want by the company they don't support.

Why doesn't apple make their own onedrive service... or rent out more icloud storage on googles servers. God forbid a computer company spin up some servers for their users.

I’m not sure if you realize that many Mac users have to use MS stuff because of crappy corporate jobs where we must endure infantile biz speak and Microsoft. The second I’m done with work I go to our recording studio and fire up my wicked fast M1 Pro Max and Logic Pro. I don’t know a single musician who uses windows, though I know they are out there. Talk about whining, you should check out the pro audio forums and hear windows users complaining about nothing working on their machines. When you try to work with cobbled together hardware and software, what do you expect?

 

[rkenyon]

I think the new implementation is not a problem. You can still store all your files locally, by selecting "Always keep on this device".

The issue is that Microsoft / OneDrive deleted the whole OneDrive directory without :-

1. Any notice
2. Any opt-in by the user

This affected me on one of my Macs. All of a sudden 80GB of data has disappeared. I tried to re-download, but it just keeps failing (as has been reported by many others). So, I'm left with no local data. Fortunately, I have backups, and my other Mac has not yet upgraded to the new version of OneDrive.

I'm absolutely fuming about this. The regulatory bodies should be all over Microsoft. The UK Computer Misuse Act states the following :-

(1)A person is guilty of an offence if—

(a)the person does any unauthorised act in relation to a computer;

(b)at the time of doing the act the person knows that it is unauthorised;

(c)the act causes, or creates a significant risk of, serious damage of a material kind; and

(d)the person intends by doing the act to cause serious damage of a material kind or is reckless as to whether such damage is caused.

So, I'm now looking at alternatives. Google Drive is currently uploading my data. I'll see how that goes - and then try Dropbox if not.

One thing is for sure, my Microsoft 365 subscription will not be renewed.

 

[Aaron Priven]

The problem is not that Microsoft switched to Apple's new back-end system. The problem is that instead of saying "oh, you currently have files-on-demand turned off, we'll set all your root folders to have 'Always store on this device' turned on", they said "oh, you currently have files-on-demand turned off, we'll turn it on without asking you."

 

[VictorTango777]

I was under the impression this was always how Onedrive worked and that's fine by me. Most of my iCloud and Onedrive files are stuff I'm happy to leave in the cloud.

Default is not the same as mandatory. The Files On-Demand issue is more noticeable for people who:
1. Have more than one file or folder in OneDrive
2. Use OneDrive with more than one computer
3. Use OneDrive with more than one operating system

 

[Tagbert]

For a bunch of Mac users who love to piss and moan about how they hate Microsoft and Windows, it's extremely satisfying to see them all crying when the thing they need doesn't work for them the way they want by the company they don't support.

Why doesn't apple make their own onedrive service... or rent out more icloud storage on googles servers. God forbid a computer company spin up some servers for their users.

Uhh….. Apple iCloud


I’m using OneDrive on my work machine as installed by IT. It is used as a cross-platform cloud sync and sharing system. We used to have DropBox which I found more stable but OneDrive is cheaper since it comes with the Office365 subscription.

 

[Haiku_Oezu]

Wait, you can just pin the whole OneDrive folder to force download of every single file?
What’s the big deal then..?

 

[rkenyon]

Wait, you can just pin the whole OneDrive folder to force download of every single file?
What’s the big deal then..?

It doesn't work... just hangs after random amount of time, and won't restart.

 

[jonnysods]

A handful of users? Perhaps.

Its a deal breaker for me though - cloud services aren't exactly a fool proof backup method. I store files locally on my computer, and then on a local backup, and use Dropbox for sync/offsite copies of that data. I hear Dropbox are having issues with 12.3 too.

 

[ahostmadsen]

Or you can just tell it to keep all the files local, which is still an option, and you back them up. All cloud vendors have this option now...including iCloud.

The issue is that they put it as default, and it’s very difficult to opt out. For most users it’s a terrible solution.

Seriously Mac owners need "Files on demand" more than PC owners because Apple charges a small fortune for HD upgrades and since you have to do it at purchase time, they got you if you want 1TB in your new Mac.

And once you are on the path of not having a big enough HD for your files, they are no longer yours, they belong to the cloud provider.

 

[Lethcoeb]

I was mostly pissed that they nuked all of my local content. I was away from my good broadband connection, and at a hotel when I found out.
I’ve brought back most of it, but I’ll just keep some in the cloud now.

 

[DrKarl]

Believe it or not, there are 20% (??) of Americans ... and who knows what % globally ... who have no access to high speed internet. The fastest speed DSL I have available at my current home is 7 mbps down. As many people posted in the original thread as well - it could take days to re-download the files that WERE local on my system and are now cloud-only ... and then to make them always local again. In their response, Microsoft really does not address the issue of people losing access to all of their files while offline (or on a ridiculously slow connection) due to their change.

Apple deprecation has absolutely nothing to do with Microsoft creating a new stack that did not keep local files local, but rather just wiped them out. I was planning on canceling my DropBox subscription since OneDrive is so cheap included in an Office subscription... but now I just don't trust Microsoft at all.

 

[Lethcoeb]

Believe it or not, there are 20% (??) of Americans ... and who knows what % globally ... who have no access to high speed internet. The fastest speed DSL I have available at my current home is 7 mbps down. As many people posted in the original thread as well - it could take days to re-download the files that WERE local on my system and are now cloud-only ... and then to make them always local again. In their response, Microsoft really does not address the issue of people losing access to all of their files while offline (or on a ridiculously slow connection) due to their change.

Apple deprecation has absolutely nothing to do with Microsoft creating a new stack that did not keep local files local, but rather just wiped them out. I was planning on canceling my DropBox subscription since OneDrive is so cheap included in an Office subscription... but now I just don't trust Microsoft at all.

Same. Not happy with all of my local content being nuked, without warning.