Microsoft One Drive

[murraymints]

what is this ? and what does it do ? do I need to buy more space ? ..as prompted by MS... I am not aware of using it as I have not a scooby what it is..

[kvalidir]

Isn't it part of Office Suite Minty, like a storage cloud in which case it'd depend on how much space you need I imagine :) x

[jim360]

It's a way of storing documents without needing to use your own computer (or USB storage device, memory card, etc). There's nothing wrong with it in principle, as it's quite secure -- and also protects vital documents against the tragedy of losing your own computer's data. That's a risk if, for example, your computer was stolen, or seriously damaged, and so on.

Bottom line, though, is that unless you have seriously large numbers of huge files that you want to protect, there's no reason to buy any extra space.

[hc4361]

It connects to Office but isn't a part of it.
It's cloud storage which backs up all your files automatically to a server somewhere in the world (called 'the cloud') so if anything happens to your computer such as the hard drive failing you can still access your files.
You can log on to your One Drive from any device in the world and access your files.
I like it and use it but it's up to you. You have been given a certain amount of free storage and if you want bigger storage you have to pay.

[CrapAtCryptics]

As just about every storage site online has been hacked at one time or another I wouldnt use it for anything remotely personal or sensitive.

[murraymints]

many thanks all...so does the one drive hold what's on my own hard drive too ?

[Buenchico]

The Basic version of One Drive (which comes with Microsoft Office 365) gives you 5 GB of cloud storage for free. You can upgrade to 50 GB for £1.99 per month. There are also Premium plans which, as well as cloud storage, get you full versions of Microsoft Office programs stored on your devices. Those cost £5.99 per month (or £59.99 per year) for 1 TB of storage or £7.99 per month (or £79.99 per year) for 5 TB.

[Buenchico]

>>> so does the one drive hold what's on my own hard drive too ?

It will depend upon the sync settings you're using.

This might help to explain things:
https://support.office.com/en-gb/article/video-why-store-files-in-the-cloud-f891c1f0-55b1-48f2-9e76-3dcf93191ced

[murraymints]

I didn't even know any pics etc were going to a cloud as they all seem to be on hard drive...don't really want them "up there" to be hacked to be honest...many thanks for all your answers xx

[jim360]

The risk of Onedrive being hacked is, in practice, probably less than the risk of your own laptop being hacked, so I shouldn't be too concerned about storing things on Onedrive per se. Still, unless you have a great deal of extra storage you need, then there's little point in buying any more than the free allocation.