What is OneDrive? Key facts about Microsoft cloud storage

OneDrive is Microsoft’s in-house cloud storage service. If you have a Microsoft account, you get 5 GB of free storage that you can use however you like. If you need more space for business use, you can upgrade to a paid OneDrive plan.

What is Microsoft OneDrive?

OneDrive is what’s known as a cloud, meaning an external data storage service. It lets you move important data to a backup, share it with others, and work on it col­lab­o­ra­tive­ly. As a cloud storage service, OneDrive works similarly to other online storage services as files are stored on servers on the internet and can be accessed at any time via apps or your browser.

For Windows users, OneDrive is a familiar tool, because since Windows 10 the storage service has been part of the standard reper­toire as an in­te­grat­ed cloud service (even if it’s not always activated). As with other providers, you can upload your data to Microsoft cloud storage with a single click, back up your data, or share selected files with other users.

What features does OneDrive offer?

To use OneDrive’s features, sign in with your Microsoft account. Once signed in, you also get access to various Microsoft services such as Word, Excel, Pow­er­Point, and Teams. If you use Windows 10 or Windows 11, you’ll already find OneDrive as an icon in File Explorer.

Key OneDrive features include:

• uploading and down­load­ing files to and from the cloud
• sharing selected files with others for viewing or editing
• col­lab­o­rat­ing using Microsoft services such as Word and Excel
• moving files into the OneDrive desktop folder to keep them in sync
• au­to­mat­i­cal­ly syncing changes across your devices
• accessing your files from anywhere, on any device
• using mobile apps on Android and iOS to access your data on the go
• expanding your storage with paid OneDrive plans
• saving Office documents directly to OneDrive using the “Save As” option

Syn­chro­niza­tion au­to­mat­i­cal­ly applies changes between cloud storage and devices. This way, users always work with the latest version of a file.

What are the re­quire­ments for using OneDrive?

To use OneDrive, you need a Microsoft account. The following minimum technical re­quire­ments also apply:

• Windows 10 or later
• macOS 13.0 or later
• no official OneDrive desktop client for Linux
• at least 1 GB of RAM
• a stable internet con­nec­tion

In practice, you can use the cloud storage on most modern computers, smart­phones, and tablets without any issues. If you’re already signed in to Windows with a Microsoft account, the service is typically in­te­grat­ed by default.

What OneDrive versions are available?

Different OneDrive versions let you access cloud storage across a range of devices and platforms. In addition to using it in a browser, you can also use the service as an app or desktop client on various systems.

Other variants include, for example:

• OneDrive client for macOS
• OneDrive for Xbox
• OneDrive for HoloLens
• OneDrive for Surface Hub
• OneDrive for Microsoft tablets

The OneDrive mobile app is also available, allowing you to access and edit your cloud data on Android (version 6.0 or later) and iOS (version 16 or later).

Ad­van­tages of OneDrive

Value for money

One advantage of OneDrive is the price-per­for­mance ratio of the different storage plans. Even the paid basic plan offers ad­di­tion­al storage space, while the free plan provides essential cloud features with 5 GB of storage. For many users, this free storage is suf­fi­cient to store documents, photos, or smaller backups.

In­te­gra­tion with Microsoft 365

Another advantage of OneDrive is its in­te­gra­tion with Microsoft 365. Documents can be saved directly from ap­pli­ca­tions and then edited col­lab­o­ra­tive­ly.

Some of the key features include:

• col­lab­o­ra­tive document editing
• file ver­sion­ing
• secure document sharing
• ad­di­tion­al pro­tec­tion against ran­somware

Personal Vault

A special security feature is the so-called Personal Vault. You can store par­tic­u­lar­ly sensitive files there that receive ad­di­tion­al pro­tec­tion. In the free plan, you can store only a limited number of files in the vault, while paid plans allow unlimited use.

Fast and easy syn­chro­niza­tion

With OneDrive syn­chro­niza­tion, you save changes centrally in the cloud, in­de­pen­dent of your device, and sync them ef­fort­less­ly. So when you access your storage from other devices (including mobile devices), changes are applied au­to­mat­i­cal­ly.

Store files in the cloud

By storing files in the cloud, users can free up local storage space while also creating backups of important data. In addition, files can be accessed re­gard­less of the device or location being used.

Dis­ad­van­tages of OneDrive

Only 5 GB of free cloud storage

Even a simple cloud storage com­par­i­son shows that OneDrive offers rel­a­tive­ly little free storage. Users of Google Drive get 15 GB of free cloud storage. This means OneDrive still provides more free storage than Dropbox’s 2 GB, but its free plan falls short compared to some Dropbox al­ter­na­tives .

Version history only available to a limited extent

Restoring older versions of documents is in some cases tied to paid plans. Advanced features for re­cov­er­ing changes are usually only available in premium plans.

Limited upload size

Even with paid plans, uploads are limited to files up to 250 GB each. If you need to upload larger files, consider using OneDrive al­ter­na­tives.

How much does OneDrive cost?

The cost of OneDrive depends on the amount of storage you want and the ad­di­tion­al features. Depending on your re­quire­ments and needs, Microsoft’s cloud storage offers different prices and plans as well as Microsoft 365 licensing models for personal, family, or business use.

Cost legend: + = low, ++ = medium, +++ = high

How secure is OneDrive?

To protect your data, OneDrive offers two-factor au­then­ti­ca­tion that safe­guards your OneDrive and Microsoft account from misuse. The transfer and access to your OneDrive data use AES 256-bit en­cryp­tion. Ad­di­tion­al security is provided by the following features:

• a personal password
• security in­for­ma­tion and recovery options
• advanced security features such as ran­somware and virus pro­tec­tion
• version history for documents

Some of these features are only available in advanced plans.

The key OneDrive features

The core OneDrive features focus on the man­age­ment and or­ga­ni­za­tion of files in cloud storage. The interface is clearly struc­tured and provides quick access to your stored content.

Key areas of the interface include:

1. My files: displays all stored documents and media
2. Recently used: shows recently opened files
3. Shared: lists files that have been shared with others
4. New: allows you to create new folders or documents