How to Backup External Drive to OneDrive with Every Possible Way
Backing up data on your computer is essential to prevent data loss, which can have significant consequences for daily life or business. Fortunately, there are reliable backup options available, such as cloud backup software like OneDrive and external hard drives. Many computer users choose one of these options as their backup solution to ensure their important files and data are safe and secure.
Why Need to Back up External Drive to OneDrive?
Some users are moving away from external hard drives and USB drives for data storage, instead opting for cloud backup services like OneDrive. This shift is driven by the benefits of cloud storage, including speed, security, and reliability. Even if external drives are trusted, experts recommend backing up an external hard drive to the cloud to ensure multiple backups in different locations, adhering to the 3-2-1 backup rule. This approach provides an added layer of protection against data loss, making cloud backup a valuable addition to a multi-faceted backup strategy.
- Data on external disks is vulnerable to the same risks as a PC, including computer virus, hardware failure, accidental erasure, fire, water, theft, and other potential threats.
- OneDrive allows for easier access to data compared to external hard drives, which require a physical connection to the computer whenever new data needs to be backed up.
- Backing up the external drive to OneDrive can free up storage space on the external hard drive and utilize the online storage space provided by OneDrive.
How to Back up an External Hard Drive to OneDrive with Cloud Backup Software
When you connect an external disk to your computer, it will be treated as local storage, allowing you to back it up with third-party software like Qiling Backup, which can sync its contents to OneDrive.
Qiling Backup Home is an all-in-one backup tool that runs smoothly on Windows systems. It supports system, file, and disk/partition backups, and allows automatic, scheduled, incremental, and differential backups. It also enables backing up OneDrive files to external hard drives and cloning hard drives, with a free cloud storage of 250G.
Guide: How to back up an external drive to OneDrive with a disk backup tool
To back up your data from an external hard drive to OneDrive, you can use the OneDrive desktop app to sync your files. Here's a brief summary: First, ensure you have the OneDrive desktop app installed on your computer.
Step 1. Start with clicking the Disk/partition backup button.
Step 2. You can use this tool to back up either an entire disk or a specific partition, depending on your needs.
Step 3. Select the destination where you want to save the backup.
Step 4. For disk/partition backup, you can save the backup to a local drive or to a Network-Attached Storage (NAS) device, giving you flexibility in where to store your backup.
Step 5. After completing the backup process, your task will be displayed on the left side. You can manage it further by clicking on it, which allows you to recover the backup, create an incremental backup, and more.
How to Sync External Hard Drive to OneDrive
To sync an external hard drive to OneDrive, connect the hard drive to your computer, then open the OneDrive desktop app, select the external hard drive as the folder you want to sync, and follow the prompts to complete the syncing process. However, keep in mind that OneDrive only offers 5GB of free cloud storage, so you may need to consider upgrading to a paid plan if you have large files or a lot of data to store.
Step 1. Download and install the OneDrive desktop app.
Step 2. To access OneDrive on a computer, sign in to the OneDrive account, and the app will create a OneDrive folder on the computer.
Step 3. To access your external hard drive and OneDrive folders, open File Explorer on your computer. Then, connect your external hard drive to your computer if it's not already connected.
Step 4. Copy and paste files and folders you want to sync from your external hard drive to OneDrive.
The Best Way to Backup External Hard Drive to OneDrive
To keep data safe, users can back up an external hard drive to OneDrive, a cloud platform that offers various measures to maintain data security. This can be done using the OneDrive desktop app or Qiling Backup, two methods that allow users to transfer their data to the cloud and safeguard it from loss or corruption.
Use Qiling Backup to easily and quickly back up your external hard drive to OneDrive, and also use it as a universal restore software for a universal restore on your computer.
FAQs
1. What is the difference between OneDrive backup and sync?
A backup is created to keep a copy of files at another location, preventing loss when files are deleted, damaged, or corrupted, whereas sync keeps the same files at different locations.
2. Does OneDrive take up hard drive space?
OneDrive Files On-When you turn on Files On-Demand, all your OneDrive files remain online-only, taking up no storage space on your computer, but still accessible through File Explorer.
3. Why does OneDrive delete my files?
OneDrive automatically deleting files can be caused by outdated Windows drivers, corrupted operating system files, or an outdated/corrupted OneDrive client.
4. Is there a difference between a backup drive and an external hard drive?
A backup is like a library archive, providing a copy of files in case of a system failure, whereas an external storage drive allows manual data relocation.
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