For a long time I’ve used OneDrive to sync all of my files and keep them safe, but I’ve been really getting into self hosting all my own services, so today I set up NextCloud to replace it. I told it to sync my OneDrive folder, and it did it’s best. It copied the file structure and had all the directories and everything but emptied every folder, it deleted every single file I had on my OneDrive, now all I have is empty folders.

Luckily OneDrive has a file recovery system where I can give it a time and date to revert back to so my data should all be safe, but why on earth did it do that in the first place? This was incredibly stressful and terrifying I thought I lost all my work. What did I do wrong?

Edit: I’ve identified the issue and have learned from this experience, it is now a non issue and was completely my own doing. Wary reader, learn from my cautionary tale

Comment that helped me figure it out https://lemmy.ca/comment/12912420

  • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.orgEnglish
    0·
    2 days ago

    I don’t use the desktop app, but the mobile app has a setting for what to do with the original file:

    1. Keep in original folder
    2. Move to app folder
    3. Deleted

    I have different sync folders setup differently depending on use case, but I typically use option #1 as my “default”.

    Maybe when you setup the sync folder, you set it to delete the local files?

    Also, is the OneDrive folder a “real” folder or virtual one? I’ve only used Google Drive for things like that, and the local folder just holds a skeleton of the contents and pulls from the network on-demand. It…does not play well with other sync utilities or even copying through robocopy.