Can I backup external hard drive to OneDrive?

Why backup external hard drive to OneDrive?

In the current age, most users no longer like to keep data stored on an external hard drive or USB drive and more and more people are rushing toward OneDrive because it is better, faster, and more secure.

As we all know, data on an external drive suffer from the very same risks that your computer does like system crashes, hardware failures, natural disasters, theft, and so on. So, according to the 3-2-1 data backup strategy, you should create multiple backups and store backups in different places. 

Meanwhile, the storage space of an external hard drive is limited and the price of the external hard drive is not very cheap for most users. In contrast, OneDrive provides you with huge storage space as long as you pay to upgrade your account. And the price is reasonable.

What’s more, the data on OneDrive can be accessed more easily than on external hard drives. Every time you need to backup new data or access some data on the external hard drive, you have to connect your external drive to the computer while the data stored on the cloud can be accessed and used on any device, at any time.

How to backup external hard drive to OneDrive

Backing up data from an external hard drive to OneDrive can prevent them from losing all your data at once when the above disasters happen to you. And you can access your files more easily. You'd better backup drive to OneDrive.

Actually, as long as the hard drive is connected to your PC or laptop, OneDrive will treat it as if it is just a regular part of your local storage. So, you can backup or sync external hard drive to OneDrive just like you backup files from local computer to OneDrive. You will find 3 ways to backup your data from external hard drive to OneDrive in the following contents.

The first and third ways will show you how to manually or automatically use OneDrive to backup external hard drives. The second way will show you how to sync external hard drive to OneDrive. Choose a way according to your needs.

Way 1. Backup external hard drive to OneDrive via OneDrive website

OneDrive official website allows you to upload and access files online, so, if you want to backup the files that you’ve saved on an external hard drive to OneDrive, you can learn how to backup external hard drive to OneDrive with the guidelines below:

1. Connect your external hard drive to the computer and make sure it can be detected.

2. Go to the OneDrive website and log in to your account.

3. On the OneDrive main page, click the “Upload” > “Files” or “Folder” button.

4. You can browse and select all your files and folders on your external hard drive here, and click “Open” to backup external hard drive to OneDrive manually.

Way 2. Backup external hard drive to OneDrive via OneDrive desktop app

As mentioned above, once you connected your external hard drive to your PC or laptop, OneDrive will treat it as if it is just a regular part of your local storage. So, you can sync hard drive to OneDrive just like with any other folder with the OneDrive desktop app with the steps below:

1. Connect your external hard drive to the computer and make sure it can be detected. If you want to sync USB to OneDrive, connect your USB to computer.

2. If you haven’t set up the OneDrive desktop app on your computer, download and install it first. If you have set up OneDrive desktop app on your computer, you will see the OneDrive folder in Windows Explorer.

3. To sync external drive to OneDrive, drag and drop files from the external hard drive to this OneDrive folder directly. Then, these files will be synced to the OneDrive cloud automatically. You can go to the OneDrive website to see your files there.

Way 3. Backup external hard drive to OneDrive via free cloud backup service

There are many cloud backup tools in the market that can also help you backup external hard drive to OneDrive directly. For example, there is a professional cloud backup service called CBackup can help you back up the external hard drive to OneDrive easily as long as you connect the external hard drive to Windows PCs.

CBackup allows you to add your cloud drives like OneDrive, Google Drive, and Dropbox. And then, you can backup PC files including documents, forms, videos, photos, and so on to your OneDrive cloud or other clouds. What's more, CBackup is very easy to use and you can try CBackup for free. 

Let's see how to backup external hard drive to OneDrive automatically via CBackup:

1. Download and install it on your computer. Sign up with an account, and run it to log in.

2. Click "Storage" on the left side, choose "OneDrive" and hit "Authorize Now". Then follow the on-screen guide to allow CBackup to access your OneDrive files.

3. Select the "Backup" tab, and then press Backup PC to Public Cloud.

4. Specify the "Task Name", and choose folders on the external hard drive. Choose OneDrive as the target location. Tap Settings > Scheduler to set up OneDrive auto backup.

5. Then, press the "Start Backup" button to backup external hard drive to OneDrive automatically.

Besides, if you want to sync external hard drive to OneDrive, you could go to the Sync tab on the left, then choose Sync PC to Public Cloud.

Meanwhile, CBackup also offers its own cloud server called CBackup Cloud, which has 5GB of free storage with each account. You can also choose to backup PC files to CBackup Cloud if you don't want to use OneDrive anymore. You can use it as a OneDrive alternative to do cloud backup with large storage space (1TB or more) at a good price.

Bonus tip: how to get more free OneDrive cloud storage

Generally, OneDrive provides users with 5GB of free storage space, which may be not enough for you if you decided to back up the entire external hard drive to OneDrive automatically every time you connected to the computer. If you are not ready to pay for an advanced plan with larger storage space, you can use CBackup to add and merge OneDrive accounts.

Besides the PC to cloud backup feature, CBackup can also help you combine the backup space of several OneDrive accounts into a huge backup space and then back up PC files to this combined storage cloud. In this way, you can take full use of all your free cloud storage.

1. Likewise, click "Storage" on the left side, and click the "+ Add Cloud" button to add as many OneDrive accounts as you have.

2. After adding, all your OneDrive accounts are listed under Storage. Click the "+ Add Combined Cloud" button.

3. Then, tick all your OneDrive accounts, and click Next. Then choose backup order for all your OneDrive accounts, then press Combine.

Now, your OneDrive cloud storage has been increased. And you can choose the "Combined Cloud" as the backup destination while configuring a cloud backup task by clicking Backup > Backup PC to Combined Cloud.

Moreover, CBackup could help you a lot while performing cloud backup:

• Backup files to Google Drive, Dropbox, CBackup Cloud, and even the combined cloud, it's quite comprehensive and helps you out of trouble if you encounter the cloud desktop app not working.
• Migrate one cloud to another easily with cloud to cloud sync feature, and everything will be transferred directly without downloading and re-uploading, saving your precious time.
• Provides 5GB free cloud storage of CBackup Cloud, and you could enjoy more free cloud storage of CBackup Cloud.
• Backup one cloud data to another to prevent data from losing with powerful backup settings, like schedule backup, file filter, email notification, etc.

Further Reading: How to Install OneDrive to External Hard Drive?

Generally speaking, OneDrive can help you store files online only, but OneDrive takes up space on C drive, or OneDrive Files on demand not working, if you want to free up space for your local computer, you could choose to move OneDrive folder from your computer to external hard drive in the following steps:

1. Please connect your external hard drive to your computer and ensure it can be detected.

2. Click the OneDrive icon on the system tray, hit the gear icon (Help & Settings), and choose Settings.

3. Go to the Account tab, click Unlink this PC, and hit Unlink Account in the pop-up window.

4. It will show you the OneDrive setup window, input your OneDrive account and password, click Next > Accept to go to Your OneDrive folder window, and hit Change location.

5. Choose the external hard drive and hit the Select Folder button, and follow the steps to complete the setup.

After doing this, all the OneDrive folders and files will be moved to the external hard drive, saving your local disk space.

Conclusion

You can backup external hard drive to OneDrive via any of the ways above with only a few steps. If you need to backup d drive to OneDrive or backup c drive to OneDrive, these ways are feasible.

If you want to get more free OneDrive backup cloud storage, you can use CBackup to help you merge your OneDrive accounts. And if you meet an error when using OneDrive, you can use CBackup as the backup destination of the external hard drive.