What is Microsoft OneDrive, how much storage do you get, and is it for you?

You can get all the local storage you want, but if you forget to bring a portable drive or a laptop along with you on a trip, it’s no good to you. So it goes that cloud storage is a great tool to have in your belt. For Windows users, Microsoft OneDrive is definitely going to be one of your top choices. Here’s what you need to know about it.

What is Microsoft OneDrive and what are its features?

Cloud storage, if you don’t know, is basically a private file store that you can access through the internet. You can upload documents, photos, videos, and other items to your cloud drive, ionspect your files, and download off of it. You can also opt to share specific files, folders, or even whole accounts in some cases with other people – they can do same for you without their files impacting your storage cap.

OneDrive is Microsoft’s own offering and the company loves pushing it through Windows PCs.

File backups

Specifically, new Windows 11 machines come pre-loaded with the OneDrive app – which includes a dedicated directory in your C: drive. If you’ve breezed through your setup process like I have, you may find that this OneDrive partition is already syncing your Desktop, Documents, and Pictures directories to the cloud.

You can turn auto-syncing on or off by doing the following:

1. Open the OneDrive app from your taskbar, then click on the gear icon (⚙️) at the top-right corner and select Settings from the drop-down menu.
2. You’ll be taken to the Sync and backup section by default. Click on the button that reads Manage backup near the top.
3. Flip the toggles for which of the Desktop, Documents, and Pictures you want backed up or not. Then, press Save changes.

You can also opt to back up other files and folders from your computer by copying and pasting them into your OneDrive folder. Unlike with the directories mentioned above, this will always be a manual process unless you open Command Prompt and issue the following command (with the appropriate text replacements):

mklink /j "%UserProfile%OneDriveNewFolderName" "C:\LocationOfTargetDirectory"

This will make a new folder in your OneDrive directory and then creates a junction with your target directory. Once you’ve created that junction, files you put in and take out of that target directory will be synced in and out of your OneDrive account in that folder.

You can also upload files via OneDrive’s web portal.

OneDrive will show what it thinks are the most relevant files in a carousel named For you at the top of the page. You can also right-click on files and folders to pin them to the Quick access section at the bottom-left of the screen.

Photo and video storage

OneDrive includes a photo viewer that looks and behaves much like how Google Photos does. Media is arranged in chronological order and you can inspect files in fullscreen mode by clicking on the thumbnails. Microsoft has also included a feature that utilizes artificial intelligence to generate tags – such as “Clothing” or “Indoors” if it detects a studio portrait – that are automatically applied to your photos. If you’re using the search engine to look up photos by tag terms, make sure you select the drop-down option that includes a hashtag in order to conduct a tag search.

You can edit photos using an interface similar to the stock Microsoft Photos app, apply AI-determined adjustments to pictures with Office Lens, and, of course, share the photos to whoever needs to see them based on organizational and contact-based settings.

How much storage do I get for OneDrive? How do I get more?

If you’ve got a Microsoft account, you automatically get 5GB of free storage space – this gets shared between OneDrive and the attachments stored in Outlook if you use that client for your email activity.

You’re able to refer up to 20 other people to sign up for OneDrive and get 0.5GB for each referral by sharing a link which you can get by accessing the Manage storage settings page on your OneDrive account. But as far as free goes, 15GB is the most you’ll almost certainly get.

To get more, you’ll need to subscribe to a Microsoft 365 plan (which you can do here). If you’re an average user, Microsoft 365 gives you not just cloud storage for OneDrive and Outlook, but access to its Office range of apps (Excel, PowerPoint, Word) and more. This also means you’ll be able to store Office files with your Microsoft 365 storage.

Here are the options you have as a non-business user and how much you’ll need to pay to get it:

• Microsoft 365 Basic – 100GB storage: $1.99 per month or $19.99 annually
• Microsoft 365 Personal – 1TB storage plus Office apps and more: $6.99 per month or $69.99 annually
• Microsoft 365 Family – 1TB storage per person for up to six people plus Office apps and more: $9.99 per month or $99.99 annually

If 1TB isn’t enough, those on a Personal or Family plan can purchase additional storage on a monthly basis. Family planholders should note that additional storage for each user as applicable.

• 200GB for $1.99 per month
• 400GB for $3.99 per month
• 600GB for $5.99 per month
• 800GB for $7.99 per month
• 1TB for $9.99 per month

For reference, here’s how Microsoft 365 for an individual stacks up against its major competitors:

Microsoft OneDrive

OneDrive, part of Microsoft 365, has many cloud storage plans.