OneDrive - why 2 copies of all files?

[imacken]

OneDrive holds copies of my files in 2 Library folders, 'Users/****/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.OneDriveStandaloneSuite/OneDrive.noindex/OneDrive' and '/Users/****/Library/CloudStorage/OneDrive-Personal'. Why is this, and is there anything I can do about it?

Any advice appreciated.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Are they two separate copies…or are they "hard links"?

 

[imacken]

They are actual files taking up space on the SSD.
If I delete the Group Containers version, it just gets re-created within a few minutes.

 

[BrianBaughn]

How did you determine that they're not "hard links"? The only way I know is to use the Terminal app.

 

[imacken]

Various means. In Finder, it shows the physical space taken up by the files at both locations. Also, the physical space is taken up on my backup drives for both. Daisy disk also shows the physical space taken up by both.
Quite a few threads on this, like this https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...s-of-all/5d49ef08-98fe-4d46-bd74-05fe94e36e78

 

[BrianBaughn]

Right…confirmed in the Terminal output shown in that thread.

Might have been better to post the links to those threads in your OP.

 

[imacken]

I hadn’t seen them when I posted the OP!
Any ideas on this?

 

[BrianBaughn]

If they can't figure it out at Microsoft I don't think anyone here will! The issue is with their software. It is working perfectly as designed as far as they are concerned, I suppose.

There are paid, third-party apps to access cloud storage services that probably don't have this issue.

Also, perhaps there's someone here that has successfully configured rclone…or an open source app that utilizes it…to access OneDrive files.

 

[CalMin]

I saw this with Daisy Disk as well and couldn't figure out if it was hard links appearing as duplicate space or actual duplicates. Seems ridiculous that it would do that.

 

[VineRider]

This may help explain the way this works…from answers.microsoft.com. Not sure why the link saves as redirecting

Redirecting

 

[CalMin]

This may help explain the way this works…from answers.microsoft.com. Not sure why the link saves as redirecting

Redirecting

Thanks for taking the time to post this. It seems then we’re not losing double the space.

 

[imacken]

What is said in that link is incorrect. It certainly does take up double the space.
For example, if I backup my library folder with one of the OneDrive locations excluded, the backup is half the size.
Also, if I delete one, e.g. the GroupContainer, the physical space available on my drive goes up by the size of that folder, and then gradually goes down as OD recreates it.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Yes…the other posts linked earlier demonstrate that the two sets of files aren't "hard links" (which take up no extra space). This is done by comparing file "inode" numbers…the method and results which are shown in those posts.

If I were using OneDrive I'd check the inode numbers myself as it's easy enough to do. That would verify that nothing has changed in the ensuing period since those posts.

 

[imacken]

inode numbers confirm what I said above, i.e. different files taking up space. Very bad situation here with OD.

 

[BrianBaughn]

It seems your options are:

1. Quit using OneDrive for Mac and use an alternative service
2. Find third-party software to connect to OneDrive that doesn't duplicate files
3. Live with the current situation