Enable differential sync (only sync parts of the files that changed)
Today OneDrive implements differential sync only for Office files (that is, syncing only the changes made to the file, instead of the entire file). It would be a significant improvement for this capability to work against any files in OneDrive - so smaller changes to a file would result in less data needing to be transmitted, meaning less time to sync changes back and forth, and more efficient use of network bandwidth.
PJD
shared this idea
We have completed the rollout for both personal and business users. Enjoy the better syncing!
214 comments
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Peter
commented
This is one of two major features that has prevented me from considering switching from Dropbox for the bulk of my synchronisation / online backup needs. When making minor changes to large files, I don't need to have my households Internet connection killed by Onedrive having the sync the whole file instead of just the changes. There is also the question of LAN syncing - another missing feature - which would also benefit from delta changes across the network...
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Anonymous
commented
Not paying for one drive until this happens.
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Anonymous
commented
It's impossible to work with large files that need sharing backing up if OneDrive has to re-upload the entire file after the slightest modification. It is not just a "good suggestion", it is a critical feature for professional use of the product and would be a huge leap foreward against the competition.
This needs to happen in every Dropbox competitor and it's hard to believe it is already 2015 and there is still so much resistance to accepting this request, it's the only reason I don't use the huge storage space I get with Office 365.
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Tink
commented
DFSR
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Martin
commented
OneDrive, you have a lot to learn from Dropbox.
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Keith chan
commented
Crazy that this hasn't been implemented yet. It's 2015...
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Michael Beijer
commented
I can't believe how much time I just wasted. Starting the long trek back to Dropbox now. Ugh. I can't believe I was so stupid as to miss that OneDrive doesn't do (1) differential sync and (2) offers no revision history for non-Office files!!!
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Michael Beijer
commented
Sweet jesus. So I am almost finished migrating from Dropbox over to OneDrive, and guess what? I only today discovered that OneDrive DOESN'T DO INCREMENTAL UPLOADS!!! What?!?
I work with a program that saves changes to glossaries of around 750 MB each. Every single time I hit save, OneDrive has to re-upload the entire file!? I have had to switch off OneDrive when I work now because otherwise our internet at home crawls to a halt.
It took me weeks to upload everything, and now what? Move everything back to Dropbox???
Is there any timeline from Microsoft for when this will be fixed? Notice I said "fixed" and not added. It is absolute insanity this hadn't yet been done yet.
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Michael Beijer
commented
Sweet jesus. So I am almost finished migrating from Dropbox over to OneDrive, and guess what? I only today discovered that OneDrive DOESN'T DO INCREMENTAL UPLOADS!!! What?!?
I work with a program that saves changes to glossaries of around 750 MB each. Every single time I hit save OneDrive has to re-upload the entire file!? I have had to switch off OneDrive when I work now because otherwise our internet at home crawls to a halt.
It took me weeks to upload everything, and now what? Move everything back to Dropbox???
Is there any timeline from Microsoft for when this will be fixed? Notice I said fixed and not added. It is absolute insanity this hadn't yet been done yet.
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Andrew Macaulay
commented
Agreed, but it does generate some interesting challenges with other requests such as shared (multiple user) folders, plus some files where locking is going to be important otherwise the app might not understand that bits of the file are changing. It would be great, but needs to be reliable and maybe even configurable so that specific file types (where apps break with this sort of sync) can be excluded.
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Damian
commented
This NEEDS to happen (block level sync) I work with large 500MB files for work (training courses) everytime I make edits to the content, its another 500MB to upload on my 1mbit home upload link. Dropbox has had this forever!
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Anonymous
commented
This is a big kicker for updating the metadata on OneDrive photos, especially considering that OneDrive doesn't utilize the metadata properly anyways. Every time I edit a picture's metadata, it has to re-upload the entire picture to OneDrive? Come on!
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Nathan
commented
This is exceptionally important for MP3's, and should be developed in conjunction with the ability to stream music from OneDrive. Seems to me the OneDrive team needs to look at more use cases now that the storage quotas have been eliminated. There are going to be a lot of people now using it to host large archives.
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pm
commented
when i edit data on my android phone and open file from surface, i see an older timestamp, and when i open that file, all my new edits are gone. Is it possible for me to recover the latest version file?
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Anonymous
commented
Kinda like Google drive documents, how they only save the changes made and not the entire file again.
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Luka
commented
Are there any news regarding this functionality? Or is it still just a good suggestion?
I have some small(er) VHDs up to 10GB which would fit on OneDrive, but I still can't use them regularly with OneDrive sync as any change would re-upload whole 10GB file making it too slow.
Please give us an update on this in any way possible, thank you!
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Justin Adie
commented
From me=from new.
Damned autocorrect.... -
Justin Adie
commented
Gobsmacked that it doesn't already do this. Why would anyone design a service from me that doesn't employ deltasync? Rsync has done it for decades.
Also vital is the ability to add external folders to one drive. Sync on connection. Particularly important for small memory devices like the sp3
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Marek Nos
commented
One more example for consideration, I'm sharing my docs including Firefox profile data with browsing history stored in sqllite file (FF feature). I'm internet geek so my history is 50MB worth. Anytime I open new page, the history file gets updated and 50MB gets uploaded to OneDrive again and again every time I open new web page.
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[Deleted User]
commented
I experience this as a serious, high priority issue with audio, photo, video files, not even talking about fhd, let alone qhd resolution. Separate property sync would be a quick win.
