Windows 10: Onedrive keeps re-syncing same files. Best way to reset?

I recently upgraded by CPU and motherboard and wanted to reconfigure the same directory structure as I had on my previous PC. My configuration is as follows:


- Windows installed on C:\

- Onedrive installed on E:\OneDrive.

- Documents location changed to E:\OneDrive\Documents

- All other "library folder" locations similarly changed to E:\OneDrive\*


On my previous PC build this worked perfectly. When I upgraded my CPU and board I performed a clean install of Windows but I figured that since all the latest versions of my documents were already on the E:\OneDrive secondary disk, which I did not reformat, I would just plug in that drive after the clean installation, set the OneDrive directories to point to the original location, and OneDrive would recognize that the files were already synced and only update files that had changed in the brief time that I was building the PC.


Instead, OneDrive has been syncing 100% continuously since I built the PC about 2 months ago, which I assume means it's been re-syncing the same files because I only have about 200 GB of data stored on OneDrive. It keeps saying "Syncing x of y GB" in the status tooltip, where y is a chunk of about 50 - 60 GB at a time. As soon as it finishes syncing that chunk, it immediately resets to "Syncing 0 of z GB" where z is another large chunk. At this point it must have downloaded about 600 GB of redundant data. In the meantime, upload seems to be broken because I can access files from my laptop on this PC, but files modified on the PC do not get uploaded to the cloud and are not visible on my laptop.


I'm planning to switch my E:\ drive from mechanical to SSD anyway, and I'm wondering what the best strategy would be. Should I clone my current E:\ drive to the SSD first, swap out the drives, and hope that this time OneDrive correctly recognizes that the files are already synced? Should I instead provide a completely clean E:\OneDrive folder on the SSD and let it redownload all 200 GB again from the cloud, and then overwrite the needed files with the updated versions of those files that don't seem to be getting uploaded? Or, even better, is there a way to fix my current OneDrive setup and make it behave correctly before performing the drive upgrade? I'd really appreciate any suggestions.


Thanks!

:)

 

OneDrive keeps crashing in Windows 10

Hi,

Quick update. This fixed it for me:

I suggest you to try resetting OneDrive and check if it helps you in resolving the issue. To do so refer the steps below:

Be aware that resetting OneDrive re-syncs all your OneDrive files, which could take some time depending on how many files you’re syncing.

• Press the Windows key + R to open the Run
  Window.
• In the Run Window enter the following:
  %localappdata%\Microsoft\OneDrive\onedrive.exe /reset
• Click OK. The OneDrive system tray icon on the desktop should disappear and re-appear after a minute or two.
• If the OneDrive system tray icon does not re-appear after a few minutes, do the following. In the Run Window Enter: %localappdata%\Microsoft\OneDrive\onedrive.exe

 

Files not syncing to OneDrive

Hi,

Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.

I understand that you are facing issues not syncing properly with OneDrive.

I suggest you to refer the troubleshooting steps in the article
Fix OneDrive sync problems and check if it works for you.

For more information, you can check the article to
Sync files with the OneDrive sync client in Windows.

If you are still facing the issue, I suggest you to get in touch with 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.

Hope it helps.

Nikhar Khare

Microsoft Community - Moderator

 

Sync files via OneDrive that are hardlinked to other locations

I use OneDrive to sync a script between multiple computers, including between my home and work machines. At work, we recently implemented separate logins for normal vs. admin access. This caused a problem because my script requires running under admin rights, but my admin account doesn't have access to my normal account's document folders where OneDrive syncs. I initially got around this by just manually copying the scripts between the sync location and one where the admin account can reach.

I next tried using a hardlink on my work computer, set up where the original file was in the sync location and the hardlinked version was in the outside folder. This worked great when I made changes to the script from my work machine, but I recently found that if I make changes on my home machine it breaks the hardlink. It seems that the process of OneDrive syncing the files works as a delete and re-add, so the delete step breaks the hardlink. The script continues to work because the "linked" file now becomes a standalone file.

Can anyone think of a way to keep these syncing, or a better way to do the same thing? I don't think there's a way to change the hardlink behavior because that seems to be integral to its design. OneDrive syncing a single file to a different location than the rest would be ideal, but I haven't found a way to do that.