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Relink One Drive

Hi All

I have an SSD and HDD.  My OneDrive folder is stored on my HDD.  I had to replace my SSD, which means I now have to sign back into One Drive.  I tried to "Change" the location so that it pointed to the existing One Drive folder, but it wont allow me to.  I tried unlinking the account, and signing back in.  I tried re-installing. No joy.  I attempted to rename the original folder on the HDD to "OneDriveOld" so that I could select the location and then rename it back but it wont let me open the folder, let alone rename it.  I don't believe I can delete it, and I wouldn't want to let it download the 200GB again - what can I do?

Thanks in advance!

Michelle

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Hi Michelle

I am an Independent Advisor here to help.

When attempting to change the location of the OneDrive folder may I assume that you used the method detailed here?

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/402863...

If you did and it failed you may have no choice but to choose a new location upon reinstall. If you don't want all of the files to download you can use the files on demand feature to choose that all files should be stored only in the cloud. This will make your files available through file explorer but inaccessible in the event that the computer is offline.

If you want to look into that please see the following guide
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/save-d...

Also, as long as the PC is not linked to OneDrive and not pointed to the original folder you can delete it without losing files as long as you see that your files are all uploaded at https://OneDrive.live.com

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Hi James

Thank you for your fast reply and the link. 

The One Drive folder (which doesn't yet have the cloud icon) is already where I want it, on the HDD (Drive D).  It has all my files in it, already downloaded.

The old SSD (Drive C) used to point to it. The SSD has been replaced due to a fault, which means it has a fresh install of Windows/OneDrive

All I want to do is point the new One Drive software to that HDD folder, so I don't have to delete 200GB of data, only to redownload it all again.

In any case, this doesn't seem possible...as, even when One Drive is unlinked, I have no access to that HDD One Drive folder - I cant delete it, or rename it, or go into it.  I cannot now store the folder on the SSD, as the SSD is not big enough.  So, if I cant delete the original folder from the D Drive, I don't understand how I am to access it at all?  I want the files on my laptop, not stored only in the cloud. And they are already on my laptop, I just need to get One Drive to talk to that folder

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Thank you for the in-depth details

May I ask are you trying to install OneDrive onto the solid-state drive instead of the hard drive where the folder was previously located?
OneDrive will only communicate with the folder if it is located on the same drive where the OneDrive sync client has been installed

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I haven't yet completed the installation of One Drive. It comes as part of Windows, and says it isn't connected and says "sign in to get started".  When I have added in my credentials, I try to change the folder to the HDD drive but its say it cant be located there. 

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Try using Settings/System/Storage scrolling down to link 'Manage Storage Space' that sends you to Control Panel/System and security/Storage spaces to create a pool storage that is easy for the system to manage putting all your drives in one place … you can also just hit Windows key and type 'storage space' letting Cortana give you directly the option … 

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Hi Markos, thanks for your suggestion.  I've had a look and I am not quite sure that's going to help with this issue, but I will bear it in mind for once I get this problem sorted.  I need to get access to the HDD One Drive folder first.  If I could delete it, I could just set up afresh and re-download everything from the cloud, into the same HDD location.  Perhaps I am not understanding what you are suggesting, but if I don't, its probably best not to mess!

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You are correct. I assume then that you have installed Windows 10 into the SSD? Is there any chance that you can install to the HDD instead?

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Hi James

That would defeat the purpose of having an SSD in the first place. LOL. Windows was previously installed on the SSD anyway.  Its only been replaced and reloaded.  The previous OneDrive software was set to look at the HDD location - I thought that was installed on the SSD and it was looking at the HDD for the data.  I don't really understand why it can't simply relink to that folder.

Whats more annoying is that I cannot delete the HDD One Drive folder, which contains all my files.  Which means I cannot set up one drive, or access any of my files. 

The HDD only contains a One Drive folder and a Dropbox folder.  As these files are also stored in the cloud, and can be re-downloaded, it seems I will have to try and format the HDD to get rid of those folder, and hopefully that will allow One Drive to "start again" and redownload everything.

It seems a lot of faff, and I am surprised that One Drive doesn't allow for a simple re-link.  The PC is set up exactly the same, same Microsoft log in etc, even the user folders are the same name. 

I am more surprised that I cant find that this question hasn't asked before, on here or on google.

Fingers crossed I can figure this out, thanks for your time :)

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You are welcome

Sounds like man on the previous installation you had moved the OneDrive folder to the hard drive. But now when reinstalling it wants to look for the OneDrive folder on the same drive where OneDrive is installed and if you have to be there to start with until you once again move it to the new location. Unfortunately though if it won't let you move it to the same location as the previously existing OneDrive folder you would need to create a new OneDrive folder on that hard drive and that does defeat your purpose.

At this point reformatting the hard drive might be your best option

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Hi James. Yes it seems to have worked. :)

The engineer didnt mention that the original one drive needed to be unlinked and removed before we replaced the SSD. I’ll know for next time!

Luckily, all my files are on dropbox and one drive, and these are the only two folders on the HDD. So its really just a pig to have to wait for it all to redownload, but hey ho, no big deal! 

Thanks again, have a fab weekend! 

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Last updated April 20, 2023 Views 1,781 Applies to: