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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Domdom
commented
+1 (like Dropbox already does quite well). A must for MP3 where you change only a tag, not the music for instance, or large file such big archive ... then OneDrive will be perfect!
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Luka
commented
+1 to this. Also, if you're smart and previous version exists on some other user's account, you'll again just use the differential upload. Enterprise backup tools exist that can do that, so if you backup 50PCs they'll smartly deduplicate data and make differential backups, so .. well.. just a suggestion.
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BW
commented
This is the only reason I moved from OneDrive to Dropbox. Like most parts of Australia, I have limited ADSL speeds and can upload at 40kB/s, so a 100MB file takes 45 minutes (if no one else is using the internet). My pst file is 400MB so every time I closed outlook OneDrive would take 3 hours to update, during which time all other users had trouble accessing the internet. Dropbox typically takes 2 minutes to update.
No brainer on which service to use! -
Anonymous
commented
This single missing feature is what prevents me from using OneDrive as the storage for my large collection of photographs. I could really put all that newly-available space to good use...but not if the whole RAW file has to be re-uploaded every time I change a tag or make a minor edit. As matters stand now, a couple of hours in Lightroom results in a OneDrive sync queue that takes days to clear.
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Joe Cogan
commented
Please move this from "Thinking About It" to "Working On It" soon!! While OneDrive does use differential sync on Office files, it doesn't include ALL office files!
I back up my Outlook .PST files on OneDrive and can only do it once a week because it does not use differential sync. I have 12 PST files totaling 20+ GB and it takes well over a day to get new updates to the cloud. Differential sync would allow me to do this once or more per day which would give me much better piece of mind.
Thanks for the consideration guys. Keep up the good work!!
Joe Cogan
joecogan@hotmail.com -
Doug
commented
One more person begging for this in the near future - I consistently run into this as a problem when I am doing photo metadata updates (frequently hundreds of photos at a time). Block-level/differential sync would pretty much make my day.
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Anonymous
commented
I hope this makes it in soon...
For those wondering about how much difference it makes: it makes a lot. If you've used Dropbox you'd understand. Yes, it won't help with zip files, but it makes much more sense when you're talking about many smaller files, or things like WAV files, office documents, XML, photos metadata etc. The vast, vast majority of stuff I use OneDrive for would speed up greatly.
It's the main reason I stick with Dropbox (well that and not being able to connect folders between users)
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Disco Dave
commented
A great use for this, is when it comes to organising your photos. If you had 10,000 pictures over the years and want to start tagging them, ie metadata tags, the whole file needs uploading whereas you could just upload the metadata. 1k instead of 5-10mb
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Simon Pleasants
commented
Echo that of others - my slow ADSL connection will not cope uploading massive files every time I make a small change and hit save.
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Erkki Ruohtula
commented
I wonder how much this would actually help. Most large files are in heavily compressed formats, where even small changes (from the user's point of view) will tend to make most of the bytes different from the original version.
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Chumomo
commented
Incremental synchronization is my top wish. I do not want to reupload a huge PSD file even a tiny modification.
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Anonymous
commented
Block level sync is a must-have feature for a service like this. It's a huge reason Dropbox feels faster...
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bander
commented
Agreed. Plus selective sync is a must feature needed ASAP.
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Matthew Carter
commented
You should use Shredded Storage just like in SharePoint http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=39719, would be helpful and easier for you, you have the technology already, just ask the other department for COLLABORATION (SharePoint) and say you want to help others!
