Solved! Questions about Cloud Services (Backup and Sync)

Jan 30, 2019
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Hi

I'm here, because I really need some advice about cloud storages in general.

I'm using a computer with Windows 10 at home. Office365 is installed, therefore I have access to 1 TB of OneDrive.

I also have an external hard drive of 2 TB, which I mainly use to backup music and video files.

I use OneDrive to sync the folders "Documents" and "Pictures" from the file explorer automatically. While I enjoy working on excel sheets on my mobile phone when I'm off, I'm struggling with OneDrive for various reasons. First, it's troublesome, that OneDrive changes the original path of the standard folders "Documents" and "Pictures" from C:\users to C:\users\OneDrive. Second, it's very unconvenient, that I can't backup/sync folders from other hard drives to OneDrive, for example the music and video files saved on the external hard drive mentioned above.
I also had a hard time several times after installing OneDrive with certain permissions regarding Windows standard folders like "Camera Roll", "Saved Pictures" and so on... When I tried to move them to other folders, sometimes OneDrive prevented me to do that.

Right now, OneDrive works okay and I'm fine with it. Still, I wanted to check alternatives.

Yesterday I installed Google Drive for my girlfriend on her own computer with the "Backup and Sync" software. It looks way more comfortable to be honest. While Google Drive also has its own exchance folder (like OneDrive), all the other backuped folders like "Documents", "Pictures" and so on still keep their original paths. They're not getting tampered by Google Drive.
Also, you can backup from various hard drives, even from external ones.

So my question is:
When you read my descriptions above, would you say, that maybe I should change from OneDrive to Google Drive?
Did any of you have the same problems with OneDrive tampering the standard folders on Windows?
And does it make any sense to use OneDrive and Google Drive simultaneously?

As you may have noticed, the "sync" features are nice to have but not primarily the reason I use such a service. What I really want is just a 1:1 cloud backup from all the data I want to backup. I always had the feeling to "lose control" about my files when everythings syncing automatically. I'd rather prefer to have a cloud backup simply for backup reasons, which should work all the same as an external hard drive.

Would it be better to use a "real" backup service instead of OneDrive/Google Drive?

I'd really appreciate your advices! Thank you!
I hope, everbody understands what I wanted to ask (my english is not very good)
 
Solution
If you just want to do a cloud backup of your files without trying to sync stuff and deal with trying to sort out where the files are kept, simply do a copy to cloud storage from the original drive when files are added or changed.

I like how Google Drive works better than One Drive also.
If you just want to do a cloud backup of your files without trying to sync stuff and deal with trying to sort out where the files are kept, simply do a copy to cloud storage from the original drive when files are added or changed.

I like how Google Drive works better than One Drive also.
 
Solution