Backing up cloud storage
Before Monterey, I backed up data from Microsoft Q OneDrive to a local external hard disk using Chronosync or Carbon Copy Cloner. Why has OneDrive stopped working now?
Until this year, many Mac users seemed happy with A their use of OneDrive, provided by Microsoft with Office subscriptions. However, because it used support built into macOS that Apple changed in Monterey version 12.3, Microsoft had to make changes in the way that OneDrive functions. You should have been warned about those in an email sent to OneDrive users early in the year.
Since then, many Mac users have been unhappy with this service, and although Microsoft has made adjustments to try to accommodate Macs better, OneDrive still doesn’t work the way it used to. Ensuring your files are available locally so they can be backed up is a matter of what Microsoft calls ‘pinning’, which is explained at bit.ly/mac385ondemand.
Unless you’re committed to using Microsoft’s OneDrive cloud storage service, you should find iCloud much bettersuited to your Mac, as support is integrated into macOS, and backup utilities should be more reliable provided that you don’t enable Optimise Mac Storage, which would allow files to be stored only in iCloud and not locally. For successful backup, files can’t be evicted into the cloud, but must be available in local storage.