OneDrive blocks all non-NTFS locations

Martin Brinkmann
Jul 3, 2017
Updated • Jan 4, 2018
Companies, Microsoft
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16

OneDrive users who have picked a non-NTFS location as the file storage for Microsoft's cloud synchronization and storage service OneDrive, receive notifications currently that using OneDrive on any non-NTFS location does not work anymore.

Users who have used OneDrive on Fat32 or REFS storage locations receive the following message when they start their PC or OneDrive:

"Drive" must be formatted with the NTFS system to work with OneDrive

OneDrive must be on a drive that is using the NTFS filesystem. To have OneDrive use a different location, click "Set up OneDrive" and point OneDrive to a NTFS drive. To use "drive" with OneDrive, you need to format it with NTFS and then click "try again" to configure your account.

onedrive no ntfs

A similar message is displayed to OneDrive users who pick a non-NTFS storage location during setup:

Your OneDrive folder can't be created in the location you selected.

The location you were trying to create OneDrive folder belongs to a drive with an unsupported file system. To have OneDrive use a different location, click "Set up OneDrive" and point OneDrive to a NTFS drive. To use the existing location with OneDrive, you need to format it with NTFS and then click "Set up OneDrive" to configure your account.

The change came out of the blue, and it affects OneDrive users who store OneDrive files using Fat32 or exFAT, but also Microsoft's "next" file system ReFS. The former group may include users who use SD cards for extra storage, for instance when using a Microsoft Surface device. The latter group uses ReFS because it has advantages that NTFS does not have. This includes, among other things integrity checking, protection against data degredation, and built-in handling of hard disk drive failure and redundancy.

In short, better for storing data, especially if the data is important.

Users affected by the change are left without option to sync local data with online data. While the stored files on the storage medium are accessible, OneDrive won't sync them or provide users with any of its other functionality.

Convert to NTFS (from Fat32)

OneDrive users affected by the issue may find the convert command useful, as it may be used to convert the file system of the storage device to NTFS.

Doing so won't affect the data, but there is no way of going back according to Microsoft's Help page here.

The command is convert driveletter: /fs:ntfs, e.g. convert d: /fs:ntfs

This converts the Fat32 file system to NTFS.

Closing Words

The decision to make OneDrive accept NTFS storage online is a bad one in my opinion. First, because Microsoft did not communicate the change in advance, but simply flipped a switch to make it. All users affected by it are caught by surprise.

While it may make sense to stop support for FAT32 eventually, it is unclear why Microsoft does not support at the very least REFS as well.

Last but not least, the move affects free and paying OneDrive customers. While it is bad enough that free users are affected, paying customers are probably considering their options when it comes to file storage.

Update: Microsoft responded to an inquiry of OnMSFT stating the following:

“Microsoft OneDrive wants to ensure users have the best possible sync experience on Windows, which is why OneDrive maintains the industry standard of support for NTFS. Microsoft discovered a warning message that should have existed was missing when a user attempted to store their OneDrive folder on a non-NTFS filesystem – which was immediately remedied. Nothing has changed in terms of official support and all OneDrive folders will continue to need to be located on a drive with the NTFS filesystem.”

This does not explain the fact that OneDrive did work on non-NTFS storage devices up until a week ago, and stopped working suddenly.

Now You: are you affected by the change?

Summary
OneDrive blocks all non-NTFS locations
Article Name
OneDrive blocks all non-NTFS locations
Description
The most recent version of Microsoft OneDrive blocks all storage locations that are not formatted with the NTFS file system.
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Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. The Dark Lady said on July 9, 2023 at 11:19 am
    Reply

    Martin, I would appreciate that you do not censor this post, as it’s informative writing.

    Onur, there is a misleading statement “[…] GIFs are animated images …”. No, obviously you don’t seem to have take much notice of what you were told back in March regarding; Graphics Interchange Format (GIF).

    For example, https://www.ghacks.net/2023/03/31/whats-gif-explanation-and-how-to-use-it/#comment-4562919 (if you had read my replies within that thread, you might have learnt something useful). I even mentioned, “GIF intrinsically supports animated images (GIF89a)”.

    You linked to said article, [Related: …] within this article, but have somehow failed to take onboard what support you were given by several more knowledgeable people.

    If you used AI to help write this article, it has failed miserably.

    1. E. Fromme said on September 29, 2023 at 1:32 pm
      Reply

      EMRE ÇITAK posts are useless because they are fraught with inaccuracies and are irrelevant.

  2. KeZa said on August 17, 2023 at 5:58 pm
    Reply

    AI is stupid, and it will not get any better if we really know how this all works. Prove me wrong.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IYl1sTIOHI

  3. Database failure said on August 18, 2023 at 5:21 pm
    Reply

    Martin, [#comment-4569908] is only meant to be in: [https://www.ghacks.net/2023/07/09/how-to-send-gifs-on-iphone-two-different-ways/]. Whereas it appears duplicated in several recent random low-quality non relevant articles.

    Obviously it [#comment-4569908] was posted: 9 July 2023. Long before this thread even existed… your database is falling over. Those comments are supposed to have unique ID values. It shouldn’t be possible to duplicate the post ID, if the database had referential integrity.

  4. Howard Pearce said on August 25, 2023 at 12:24 pm
    Reply

    Don’t tell me!

    Ghacks wants the state to step in for STATE-MANDATED associations to save jobs!!!

    Bring in the dictatorship!!!

    And screw Rreedom of Association – too radical for Ghacks maybe

  5. Howard Allan Pearce said on September 7, 2023 at 9:13 am
    Reply

    GateKeeper ?

    That’s called “appointing” businesses to do the state’s dirty work!!!!!

    But the article says itself that those appointed were not happy – implying they had not choice!!!!!!

  6. owl said on September 7, 2023 at 9:50 am
    Reply

    @The Dark Lady,
    @KeZa,
    @Database failure,
    @Howard Pearce,
    @Howard Allan Pearce,

    Note: I replaced the quoted URI scheme: https:// with “>>” and posted.

    The current ghacks.net is owned by “Softonic International S.A.” (sold by Martin in October 2019), and due to the fate of M&A, ghacks.net has changed in quality.
    >> ghacks.net/2023/09/02/microsoft-is-removing-wordpad-from-windows/#comment-4573130
    Many Authors of bloggers and advertisers certified by Softonic have joined the site, and the site is full of articles aimed at advertising and clickbait.
    >> ghacks.net/2023/08/31/in-windows-11-the-line-between-legitimate-and-adware-becomes-increasingly-blurred/#comment-4573117
    As it stands, except for articles by Martin Brinkmann, Mike Turcotte, and Ashwin, they are low quality, unhelpful, and even vicious. It is better not to read those articles.
    How to display only articles by a specific author:
    Added line to My filters in uBlock Origin: ghacks.net##.hentry,.home-posts,.home-category-post:not(:has-text(/Martin Brinkmann|Mike Turcotte|Ashwin/))
    >> ghacks.net/2023/09/01/windows-11-development-overview-of-the-august-2023-changes/#comment-4573033

    By the way, if you use an RSS reader, you can track exactly where your comments are (I’m an iPad user, so I use “Feedly Classic”, but for Windows I prefer the desktop app “RSS Guard”).
    RSS Guard: Feed reader which supports RSS/ATOM/JSON and many web-based feed services.
    >> github.com/martinrotter/rssguard#readme

  7. Anonymous said on September 14, 2023 at 6:41 pm
    Reply

    We all live in digital surveillance glass houses under scrutiny of evil people because of people like Musk. It’s only fair that he takes his turn.

  8. Anonymous said on September 18, 2023 at 1:31 pm
    Reply

    “Operating systems will be required to let the user choose the browser, virtual assistant and search engine of their choice. Microsoft cannot force users to use Bing or Edge. Apple will have to open up its iOS operating system to allow third-party app stores, aka allow sideloading of apps. Google, on the other hand, will need to provide users with the ability to uninstall preloaded apps (bloatware) from Android devices. Online services will need to allow users to unsubscribe from their platform easily. Gatekeepers need to provide interoperability with third-parties that offer similar services.”

    Wonderful ! Let’s hope they’ll comply with that law more than they are doing with the GDPR.

  9. sean conner said on September 27, 2023 at 6:21 am
    Reply
  10. Sherry Grant said on September 29, 2023 at 7:47 pm
    Reply

    What does this article about Musk/Tesla have to do with computing, devices, phones?
    More irelevant filler.

  11. Anonymous said on September 29, 2023 at 8:47 pm
    Reply

    yeah sure… they are always the victims and it is only against them ????

    Believe them 100% and never question anything. This lawsuit sounds like the type you heard when people were eating batteries.

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