OneDrive is a one of Microsoft cloud storage product that allows users to store, share, and access files from anywhere and anytime. However, there may be times when you need to migrate your OneDrive files and folders to a local machine or external drive. This may be for reasons such as backup, archiving, or freeing up cloud storage space. Fortunately, there are several ways to migrate your OneDrive data to a local machine or external drive using both manual and automated methods.
Method 1: How to Migrate OneDrive to a Local Machine Manually?
If you don’t want to use the desktop app or want to download files from OneDrive to a specific folder manually, follow these steps:
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- Open your web browser and go to OneDrive.
- Sign in with your Microsoft account.
- Browse to the files or folders you want to download from OneDrive.
- To download individual files, right-click the file and select Download. To download multiple files or an entire folder, hold down Ctrl (or Command on Mac) while selecting the files or folders, and then click Download at the top of the page.
- Your browser will prompt you to choose a location on your computer to save the files. Select your desired folder, and the files will be downloaded there.
The mailbox/account syncing process is one of the simplest ways to move files from one place to another. The OneDrive syncing method also helps the user to save items to your local machine or external drive. Here is how you can do it:
OneDrive Syncing Method to Download Data
- Install the OneDrive desktop app on your computer (if it is not already installed). This app allows you to sync files between your local device and the cloud.
- Open the OneDrive app and sign in using your Microsoft account credentials.
- Sync files and folders:
- After logging in, choose the files or folders you want to sync to your local device. You can either sync all OneDrive content or choose specific folders.
- The synced folders will appear in your OneDrive folder on your computer. These files are now available for offline use and can be accessed directly from your local machine.
Move files to a Local Drive
After syncing, you can move or copy files from the OneDrive folder to any location on your local machine or external hard drive. Simply drag and drop the files to your desired location on your local drive.
Once the files are copied to your local machine, they are available even without an internet connection.
Method 2: Use Power Automate to automatically open OneDrive items on a drive
Power Automate (formerly Microsoft Flow) is a scheduled process to automatically move files from OneDrive to your local machine or an external drive. However, Power Automate doesn’t interact directly with the local file system, so you’ll have to rely on syncing OneDrive with a networked folder (such as SharePoint or a synced OneDrive folder on your PC) that links to your local machine.
Step 1: Install Power Automate Desktop
- Go to the Power Automate Desktop website.
- Download and install the desktop version of Power Automate (free for Windows 10 users).
Step 2: Create a New Flow in Power Automate Desktop
- Open Power Automate Desktop.
- Click on New Flow and give your flow a name, such as “OneDrive Sync to Local Folder.”
- Click Create.
Step 3: Set Up the OneDrive Connection
- In Power Automate Desktop, you can use the OneDrive for Business connector or set up HTTP requests to access your OneDrive files.
- Use the “Get files” or “Get file content” action in Power Automate to access your OneDrive data.
- Select OneDrive for Business as the connector.
- Authenticate with your Microsoft account if necessary.
Step 4: Set Up File Retrieval from OneDrive
- Add the Get files or Get file content action in your flow.
- Specify the folder in your OneDrive account from where you want to retrieve the files.
Step 5: Save Files to a Local Folder
- Add the Save File action in your Power Automate Desktop flow.
- Specify the local folder path where you want the OneDrive data to be saved.
- For example, if you want to save files to “C:\Users\YourName\OneDriveSync”, use that folder path.
Step 6: Run the Flow
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- Test your flow by running it. It will download files from your OneDrive account and save them to the local folder on your computer.
Method 3: Using a third-party tool for large migrations
The above methods are not a complete solution for an organization or a large company as their data is in large size.
For a quick way, you can use a third-party tool or service to migrate or download OneDrive items to a local drive. MailsDaddy cloud services are also helpful for users who want to download OneDrive files and folders.
Important points before saving OneDrive data
Storage: Make sure your local drive has enough storage space to accommodate the files you want to transfer from OneDrive.
File Versioning: If you have multiple versions of the same file in your OneDrive, decide whether to keep only the latest version or keep all versions during the migration process.
Data Integrity: Always double-check that the files have been transferred successfully and have not been corrupted during the migration process.
Backup: It is a good practice to keep a backup of your important files before transferring them in case any mishap occurs.
Conclusion
The above three methods are the most commonly used to backup or save OneDrive files and folders to a local machine or drive. Generally it is a simple method for personal and business use. You can contact our support team to get more information or download the items.
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