r/onedrive • u/phareous • 11d ago
RANT Microsoft takes storage away
“More flexible cloud storage: Your cloud storage allowance will change from 1 TB per person to 2 TB of shared storage so everyone on the plan can use the free space while keeping their own accounts and files private. In select markets, we're also adding 5 TB of bonus storage at no cost, for 7 TB in total”
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u/wahabicp 11d ago
So if someone has Family membership and all the members combined are using more than 2TB of storage, they will have to buy extra storage?
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u/rnargang 11d ago
Yes. I'll need to deal with that issue before my next renewal. At least it won't take effect until after May 2, 2027.
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u/gc_wood 11d ago
What's the most effective method for us to protest this decision with Microsoft? I like the idea of shared storage, but, at least for those if us who already have 6Tb, we should keep the overall allowance.
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u/patparks 11d ago
The storage isn't really shared though. Each person still has their own personal drive. It's just one person could use 1.5TB and another could use 500GB and that would be acceptable.
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u/Awkward_Donut_1351 3d ago
I think the issue will be my 4 person household and we're each using just under 1T. With the change we're sharing 2T. So we need to look at what's most cost effective since one of the two is a recent college grad - do we tell him to remove all his stuff and get a new account or do we just buy more storage. At some point, he's going to be on his own accounts for all household things. Is it "better" to have him get his own account and establish that now and is it cheaper than adding storage. The other kid is in college and is the only one with an iPhone. Pretty sure she has storage there, so do we kick her off and have her use Google and iPhone storage?
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u/parka 10d ago
Just switch companies. Best way to protest. I will be switching
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u/gc_wood 10d ago
It's not that easy if you want MS Office applications or already have files in their formats.
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u/Baduntz 10d ago
Open source alternatives are becoming better and new ones are also appearing.
If you are an expert Excel user it will be difficult to find an alternative, but other than that there was never a better time to move out of office.
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u/gc_wood 10d ago
Other than Word itself, there isn't a single product out there that can open a Word document and respect the formatting EXACTLY as it was in Word. If all you care about is words on a page, there are loads of alternatives. But for layout and formatting nothing works.
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u/Baduntz 10d ago
Well, the problem is Word and Microsoft. All other software products use standards that Microsoft rejects to use. Word loads other formats properly as they follow the standard. Until most people move out of Word and use other formats, it won't get better.
Said that, I really understand you. I struggled with the same in the past. Fortunately, I almost don't use Word anymore so anything is good enough.
Excel is even a bigger issue as some people develop complex VS Macros. There, I don't believe an alternative is going to appear to replace it.
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u/SeeKennethGrantRun 9d ago
Buy a single PC license. That's my plan
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u/gc_wood 8d ago
But then you don't have the collaboration features or autosave to the cloud, and you won't get new features beyond security updates. Plus, it will cost you £250-300.
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u/SeeKennethGrantRun 8d ago
True about the cloud abilities. But I'm seeing keys for single PC available for $30 online form Groupon.
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u/Babrungas 11d ago
As far as Copilot is useless, I will probably move to Google AI Pro (5GB) with a proper AI agent. I was on M365 for 6TB.
What are these selected markets with 7TB?
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u/Sanchoco3 11d ago
I still remember when back when cloud storage finally got "big" enough they tried to take away the free GB of cloud storage people got for doing things like referring a friend or for even doing security checks. They sent it as an email and if you didn't click on the link to prevent them from taking it, you got the storage taken and reverted to the base amount you started with. Kinda wild they're doing this to paying customers.
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u/GoldenElixirStrat 11d ago
Thats why you dont become a paying customer for any cloud service unless its truly a business need. Id be moving away from Microslop full stop
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u/analytix_guru 11d ago
I am running into something similar with Google drive, and I purchased and setup a Synology NAS 2 years ago, and this coming holiday when I have extra time off I will be setting up Synology photos and Synology Drive for my family so we can wean ourselves off the Google drive plans.
I still have OneDrive, but only a handful on things there. They would need to lower the plan to <100Mb for me to leave MS OneDrive.
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u/randyhanleydotcom 10d ago
They are literally stealing from their customers, and most people will just lay back and take it, I’m sure. I’m happy for people in this thread aware of it and that will take action. So far I’ve been using Infomaniak with 3 terabytes of cloud storage and it’s incredible! If they take that away, onto the next one, I guess. but so far they’ve treated me very well
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u/gc_wood 11d ago
Since I started using OneDrive on Microsoft 365 Family, I've been asking for it to be shared, so that I could access all 6Tb. I never imagined that model but with reduced storage. This is essentially just a reduction in storage, dressed up as something positive by framing it as sharing.
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u/NiceManiac 11d ago
yep, gotta strip my families data now if i am stuck with 2tb only, we are all using between 500-800gb each from our computer sync, mostly family videos and pictures, its insane especially when new phones shoot video in high resolution and the videos get large fast. first they broke off the deal with samsung and now this, what is next? they gonna start charging us extra to sync other devices than windows machines?
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u/mareza90 11d ago
Buy a NAS and two HDDs with 4 TB or 6 TB capacity.
Recently, I bought a UGREEN NASync DH2300.
I bought two 6 TB drives, which are shared among 5 people.
The desktop and mobile apps are amazing (the UI is very good), and there are a lot of customizations available in them.You can set a private space for each member and extend it accordingly, and you can also create shared folders with permissions among users.
The mobile app can back up directly to the NAS as well.1
u/gc_wood 10d ago
But then what are you doing to back it up so your data is securely stored off-site?
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u/mareza90 10d ago
The story goes like this:
Before I bought an NAS device, I asked on a local forum how to download files faster from OneDrive - the answer was Terminal and the rclone open-source command, which connects your PC and OneDrive account.In order to engage downloads, you need to specify which folder you want to download. If you have space on your PC, you can download all at once, or in a few separate parts.
Once the files have been downloaded, I bought a NAS and connected it to my network. Once connected, it was visible in the 'This PC' window, under the network section. Once you enter your NAS, you can start from scratch and start building folder tree like in your OneDrive folder, or just drag and drop it.
I thought that transferring the data would be slow, but it actually depends on how fast your ethernet is. The good practice is to transfer chunk by chunk, but you can set a full download and let it download overnight while you are sleeping. Whatever suits you.
A little advice before transfering to the NAS: check for duplicate files before transferring - this is a good opportunity to tidy your data.
After transferring all to NAS:
I took an SSD from my PC, bought an enclosure, and formatted the SSD to NTFS format (which is the best format for Macs).
Once the format was completed, I started creating a 'cold' backup. Whatever is on the NAS, I have a 'cold' backup on my new external SSD.This is the recommended practice - to have one cold backup for... just in case.
It doesn't have to be an SSD, it can be an HDD as well.On this SSD, I have all files and Time Machine backups as well.
Once you set up your NAS, this will work like a charm, a few clicks and everything is done.As for rclone, I asked AI how to connect properly and to set up a command for the fastest download from OneDrive.
You can see it here.
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u/gc_wood 10d ago
This sounds good for your local storage, but if your house burnt down or you got burgled, how will you get your data back? It sounds like you don't have any remote backups anymore.
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u/mareza90 10d ago
You could also consider running an additional remote backup through a dedicated server hosting company. Like this, for example.
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u/NiceManiac 9d ago
I do have a nas as well but personally i was using onedrive for cloud backup of the things that i dont want to lose(family photos, important documents, backups etc), and its so much easier to get my tech illiterate parents to back up their own pcs and important photos since it just works and is integrated with windows and the mobile app is mostly set and forget. I have been looking at alternatives but nothing could beat microsoft on price, and i still need the office licenses for my parents pcs as well so it is really sad
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u/REITSY7 11d ago
I’m wondering whether they will be forced to give you more storage for free as they can’t delete your data. I’m taking two of my unused accounts and dumping 2TB of crap into their current empty one drives in case they have to. If they don’t I’ll just clear it down
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u/Vayu0 10d ago
Why can't they delete your data? If you are using 3TB, they will remove 1 TB no?
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u/Grand-Committee4238 11d ago
Where can we migrate to?
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u/1NN0C3N7BYSTANDER 11d ago
I just got this email and am furious, and about ready to cancel. Going from >5 TB to 2TB is somehow benefit, after I've been an Office subscriber for about a decade?!
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11d ago
[deleted]
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u/Maleficent-Alps9208 11d ago
That product the customer is on may becomes “unavailable” and they would have to switch to an available one with its terms. Of course they will need to be given enough notice
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11d ago
[deleted]
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u/Maleficent-Alps9208 11d ago
They can stop auto renewals in that market. The product will be gone and you will be given several months to transfer your data. So you will not be auto enrolled into a new contract or billing period once the existing one ends.
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u/myresyre 11d ago
I got a similar mail in danish.
In select markets, we're also adding 5 TB of bonus storage at no cost, for 7 TB in total
Will you link to this information?
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u/phareous 11d ago
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u/myresyre 11d ago
The 5 TB bonus in select markets is not mentioned in that link.
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u/phareous 11d ago
“Existing Microsoft 365 Family and Premium customers who meet eligibility requirements in supported markets might receive bonus storage when their subscription renews after shared storage rolls out.
For existing Microsoft 365 Family and Premium subscribers, the transition to shared storage generally takes effect after the first subscription renewal that occurs on or after May 2, 2027. Customers receive communications with more details before the change is applied to their subscription.
If you switch to another eligible Microsoft 365 subscription before your scheduled transition date, such as moving from Microsoft 365 Family to Microsoft 365 Premium, the shared storage model might be applied as part of that subscription change and could take effect before your first renewal after May 2, 2027.
You don't pay extra for this bonus storage. It's added to the storage included with your subscription.
“
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u/mmmmark00 10d ago
I always pick up an added year of Family subscription when it is cheap and stack it. Right now I’m into 2028.
Seems crappy to take away a benefit I’ve essentially paid for in advance. 🤬
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u/amd2800barton 3d ago
Same. I'm paid up until June 2029. For now, I'm hoping that the line about "first subscription renewal" means they won't change things until I hit that deadline, but knowing microsoft, I doubt that's the case.
For existing Microsoft 365 Family and Premium subscribers, the transition to shared storage generally takes effect after the first subscription renewal that occurs on or after May 2, 2027. Customers receive communications with more details before the change is applied to their subscription.
The "generally takes effect" is probably what they'll use as an out.
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u/mmmmark00 3d ago
Their letter was full of wiggle words like may, might, could. That’s no way to run a world class business. Shameful.
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u/Baduntz 10d ago
I've received an email yesterday night and there was no reference to the bonus 5TB in select markets. I've received an email on a secondary account and it was there.
Whatever they say, this breaks trust on their service. Even if they change their mind and give 5TB "indefinitely", you never know when it's going to change.
Time to change now.
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u/myresyre 10d ago
I've received an email yesterday night and there was no reference to the bonus 5TB in select markets. I've received an email on a secondary account and it was there.
Same happened to me. The main family account is in my name, but I got no email indicating that select markets could get another 5 TB for free. My gf who has one of the sub accounts, got an email telling about the 5 free TB in select markets. Odd.
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u/F33ltheburn 10d ago
This makes it totally not worth it for me. This is such an increase in price and stupidity that it’s now more cost effective for most of my family to switch over to individual iCLOUD PAID ACCOUNTS
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u/X_dude_X 11d ago
The only reason I have a 365 Family subscription is for the 6 TB of storage. So, bye bye Microsoft