Windows 10: Will my OneDrive files be accidentally removed/destroyed with destruction of an old laptop?

Hello,I purchased a new laptop to replace an old one. There were many important files/photos on the old laptop, all which were uploaded to OneDrive. All of these files transferred and are accessible on my new laptop. The old laptop is no longer linked to my OneDrive account.I am looking to recycle the old laptop. If the hard drive is wiped/destroyed will the files originally created or uploaded to the old laptop disappear from my OneDrive in this scenario with the destruction of the old hard drive or will they remain available on my OneDrive account and new laptop?Thank you

:)

 

OneDrive & Old MS Account

Emily,

1. OneDrive prompting for an old organization email - this can me that it is somewhere in the registry. But I would suggest that you check the following first:

• I checked the Windows Credential Manager and did not find any reference to the old organization account.
  
• I checked the Registry Editor and did not find any reference to the email for the old org account.
  

2. Two personal OneDrive folder in File Explorer - have you ever set up OneDrive under two different Microsoft account (personal ones)? No

Or have you ever set up OneDrive to two different locations under the same Microsoft account? Not sure. I set up OneDrive 1st on the desktop with a location on that computer and then I setup OneDrive on the laptop and used the location suggested by OneDrive. Maybe that is the problem with parallel structure because I am not sure how to access OneDrive on the laptop or do I have to access those files/folders online from the laptop and not set up OneDrive on the laptop?

I still do not know why everything is under Desktop.

I am interested in knowing the following:

Right click on each OneDrive folder in File explorer, choose "copy as path", then paste the path in a reply to me. Do that for both folders. Thanks!

• They are both the same - "C:\Users\Myname\OneDrive"
  

Thank you.

 

How to remove One Drive from an old laptop

Hello and welcome to Microsoft Community!

Currently, you need to use OneDrive to remove the mirrored portion of your old computer from your new computer to free up storage space and not cause data loss.

You can detach your old Windows 10 laptop from OneDrive by following these steps.



Sign in to your OneDrive and go to Settings > Account.



Find "Connected Devices," and you should see both computers listed.

For the old Windows 10 laptop, click "Unsync". This will detach the computer from OneDrive, but won't delete any files.



Wait for the synchronization to complete.



At this point, the old laptop's files will no longer be synchronized with OneDrive.



Now you can safely erase your old Windows 10 laptop without affecting the files on your new Windows 11 laptop.



If you want to keep the files on your old computer, you can manually back them up to an external hard drive or other storage device and then erase them.



In this way, you can ensure that you detach the old computer from OneDrive without affecting the data on the new computer. But make sure you back up any important files and data before erasing your old computer.

——————————————————————————————————

I hope you're well.



Best Regards!

Leo - Microsoft Community Support Specialist

 

Sync files in OneDrive from one laptop to another laptop

Hi,



Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.



We understand that you want to sync files in OneDrive from old laptop to a new laptop. Since you have already signed in to the OneDrive app, I suggest you to refer the section
If you already have an account signed in to OneDrive in the article

Sync files with the OneDrive sync client in Windows.



If the issue persists, I suggest you to get in touch with the OneDrive support team. Follow the below steps to contact the OneDrive support team.



Sign in to OneDrive.com from any browser, click the ‘?’ help icon on the top banner of the page and select
Email OneDrive support. Submit your question and follow the prompts to request support.



Regards,

Nikhar Khare

Microsoft Community - Moderator