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OneDrive

Usage notes for the Microsoft OneDrive storage offered by the University

All University researchers with a Nexus account have a 5TB OneDrive share that can be accessed over the web or synchronised (either in full or partially) to your local computer.

For usage instructions see:

https://help.it.ox.ac.uk/onedrive-for-business

File BackuP

Files are versioned within OneDrive - 30 days of rollbacks are available, either for the whole drive or for individual files - right click on the file in the macOS Finder or Windows Explorer and choose Version history.

For important files you are strongly recommended to back them up via some additional mechanism - due to the selective sync (i.e. files remain in the cloud until you open them) you cannot rely on automated backups of your computer to protect these files, so you are advised to copy them to either force OneDrive to always store the file on the device being backed up (see below) or to copy the file(s) to some appropriately protected (e.g. encrypted or departmentally/divisionally provided shared) storage

Data lifecycle

All files are irretrievably deleted 60 days after the SSO for the OneDrive account expires. You must ensure that all important research data is transferred from the OneDrive account well in advance of you (or your research group member) leaving the University. 

Cloud First Files

By default OneDrive will automatically move files to the cloud service, leaving a stub on your local device. Files/folders not locally stored will be visible In the file browser by the presence of a cloud/arrow symbol. This mechanism of operation has two side effects:

  1. These remote hosted files will not be openable on your device without a network connection. If you know you will need these files when you are unable to access a network you should download the file before leaving the network - do this by simply opening the file. It will now stay on your device until OneDrive decides that it needs to free up space. To ensure the file is permanently held locally, right click on the file/folder and choose the option 'Always keep on my device'. You can reverse this by choosing the 'Free up space' option.
  2. Cloud located files will not be backed up by any locally running backup applications. If you have a particularly important file that must be backed up then you can either force it to be always stored locally (see point 1), or take steps to manually back it up by copying to an additional location.