I read through the forum but couldn’t find the specific scenario I’ve got:
I have an existing folder in OneDrive. I want to sync it to my external hard drive. How do I do this? I’ve seen two options that don’t seem to work well:
“Move” the ODrive folder. Lots of comments about how this is “unreliable” from the support staff here so this doesn’t sound like a great idea.
“Sync to Odrive” This feature allows you to click on a folder in your hard drive and sync it “up” to the cloud. I want to start with a cloud folder and sync it “down” to my external drive.
Hi @ericzinda,
You can use method #2. In this case you are syncing an empty local folder with your chosen remote folder. Once linked, the previously empty local folder will be populated with placeholders representing the targeted remote folder. You can then sync as normal.
Just let me know if you have any questions about this.
Thanks @Tony! I’m unclear how I would create a folder on my local drive and connect to an already existing folder in the cloud. When I create a folder on my local drive and choose “sync to drive” it takes me to a web page that says “A new folder will be created with the same name as the folder on your computer (unless one already exists or if the destination folder itself has the same name).” This implies to me that a new folder is going to get created so it won’t actually sync anything that is already up in the cloud.
Said another way: can you walk me through the steps where I sync an existing folder on OneDrive down to my external hard drive?
Hi @ericzinda,
A new folder will be created if the one you have chosen is not the same name as the local folder, or the one you have chosen doesn’t have a folder of the same name inside of it.
So, for example, let’s say you create a local folder named “Documents” and right-click->“sync to odrive” on it. When the web browser window pops-up, asking you to choose a destination:
If you choose a destination folder named “Documents” the relationship will be created with that specific folder, and the contents of the local “Documents” folder will be synced to the remote “Documents” folder.
If you choose a destination folder that contains a “Documents” folder, that contained folder will be used as the destination.
If you choose a destination folder that does not qualify for 1) or 2), and new folder will be created for you, in the folder you chose, named “Documents”.
These actions are geared towards maintaining the same name for the local and remote folder, to make it easier for the user to remember and correlate.
In your case, you should create a new local folder with the same name as the remote folder you want to sync, then create the “sync to odrive” relationship between them.