OneDrive, offered by Microsoft, is a cloud-based service that allows for seamless synchronization and sharing of files. With this platform, you can easily manage your data, including photos, documents, music, and other files, across various devices such as Windows, Android, and iOS.
Enabling the OneDrive service is like connecting a cloud-synced hard drive to your computer. Any changes made to associated files will be instantly synced to the cloud, including deletions, modifications, and creations. However, it’s important to note that OneDrive only offers a synchronization service and does not function as a cloud backup. This means there is a potential risk of data loss if your files are affected by viruses or accidentally deleted.
To improve the security of your OneDrive data, it is highly recommended to create a backup of your files on an external hard drive. In this guide, we will discuss some efficient methods to easily transfer your OneDrive files to an external hard drive for backup purposes.
II. How to backup OneDrive files to an external hard drive?
1. Use Renee Becca
Renee Becca is a tool specially used for system/hard disk data backup and restoration. It can help you back up and restore important data in your computer, such as programs, system configuration, emails, photos, videos, documents, bookmarks, etc. It adopts leading incremental/differential backup technology, which can save you more time and disk space. In addition to system backup, it also supports partition backup, hard disk backup, file backup, and disk cloning to meet your different needs.
Renee Becca - Reliable Data Backup & Restore Software
Quick Backup files at up to 3,000MB/min.
Fullfill different backup needs Supports system backup, disk / partition backup, file backup and disk clone.
Intelligent Automatically analyze the differences between source and backup data.
Convenient Support VSS, allowing to freely view webpages when backing up system.
Highly compatible Supports various files and storage devices.
Quick Backup files at up to 3,000MB/min.
Fullfill different backup needs Backup for disk, partition and system. Save disk space by backing up incremental /differential data.
Highly compatible Supports various files and storage devices.
Backing up data with Renee Becca is very simple, the steps are as follows:
Step 1: Connect the external hard disk to the computer, download and install Renee Becca on the computer, and run Renee Becca, select the (File Backup) option in the main interface (Backup).
Step 2: Next, select the files in (source) and select the external hard disk to store the backup data in (destination).
In addition, in (Scheduler), you can make a daily/weekly/monthly automatic backup plan and click (OK) to enable the automatic backup function.
In (Backup Scheme)-(Scheme Type), you can choose a suitable backup scheme mode according to your personal needs. Renee Becca has 5 backup schemes to choose from, namely version chain mode, single version mode, full mode, incremental mode, and differential mode.
Renee Becca has 5 backup plans to choose from: Version chain mode: Only the latest 5 versions are kept, and useless old versions are automatically deleted after the backup is complete. Single version mode: Only the most recent version is kept, and the previous version is automatically deleted after the backup is complete. Full mode: Create a full backup. Incremental mode: After the initial full backup, only incremental backups are created. Differential mode: After the initial full backup, only differential backups are created.
Step 3: Finally, click the (Backup) button to start the backup. You can see the progress of all backup tasks on the taskbar. After the backup is complete, you can click the (Recovery) button to restore the files to the specified hard disk when necessary.
Step 4: After that, select the location where the files are to be restored, and click the (Recovery) button.
2. Download and save OneDrive files online to the external hard drive
In addition to the above methods, you can also directly use a web browser to download and back up OneDrive files to an external hard drive. The following are detailed steps:
Step 1: Connect the external hard disk to the computer, and follow the steps below to set the location where the browser saves downloaded files to the external hard disk.
●Open the Internet Explorer browser, find the (Settings) button in the toolbar, and then select the (View Downloads) option.
●In the view download interface, click the (Options) button in the lower left corner. Then, click the (Browse) button in the “Default Download Location” to set the external hard disk as the storage location for downloaded files. Finally, click the (OK) button to save your settings.
Note: The process of changing the download location may vary depending on the browser you are using. For instance, in Google Chrome, you can click on the three-dot icon in the upper right corner, then select “Settings ” go to “Advanced ” and click on “Download Content.” From there, you can click on the “Change” button to modify the download location. Make sure to adjust the settings according to your specific browser.
Step 2: Open the URL of OneDrive in your browser, and then log in to your OneDrive account.
OneDrive site link: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/onedrive/online-cloud-storage
Step 3: Select the OneDrive files to backup.
Step 4: Click the (Download) button to directly save and back up OneDrive files to the external hard drive.
3. Change the OneDrive folder location
If you want to back up OneDrive files to an external hard drive, you can also directly change the location of the OneDrive folder to the external hard drive. The specific steps are as follows:
Step 1: Connect the external hard drive to the computer, right-click the OneDrive icon in the file explorer (or right-click the OneDrive icon in the taskbar), and select (Settings) > (Account) option. Then click (Unlink this PC) > (Unlink account).
Step 2: Right-click on the file in OneDrive, select (Properties) and view the local storage location of the OneDrive file.
After jumping to this location, select the OneDrive folder, click (Move to) at the top, then click (Select Location).
Next, select the external hard disk in the Move Items window, you can also create a new folder on the external hard disk, and finally, click (Move).
Step 3: When the OneDrive settings window pops up, enter your OneDrive account and click (Sign in).
Step 4: Click the (Change location) option on the “Your OneDrive folder” screen, and then select the external hard drive as the new location.
