As an author, I’ve used cloud drives for years. I have some off-brand versions plus Google Drive, DropBox, and MicroSoft OneDrive.

Out of all of them, MicroSoft OneDrive is the one you should avoid at all costs.

MicroSoft OneDrive, springing yet another leak so authors lose their data. Would you like fries with that?

Some of my projects have large files, such as a graphic novel I’m working on. I have several art and page layout ZIP files I’ve stored there as a backup. Thanks to a failed hard drive that I’ve replaced, I have to copy those files back to my local drive. The files on DropBox and Google Drive transferred without a single glitch. It appears I won’t be able to recover my OneDrive files at all.

Every time I’ve tried to download any of 16 files — that is 100% of 84 tries — the transfer fails when there is around five percent left. I’ve used different computers, different locations, different browsers, and all with the same results. The file transfer dies on MicroSoft OneDrive’s end and when I click “resume”, the temporary file they created to copy is already deleted — within less than a second. Their tech support, based out of a McDonald’s back office in Greenland, has no clue whatsoever. I told them I had a Toshiba and they said they didn’t support Linux. Quality support right there.

If you’re using cloud storage for backups, I urge you to immediately pull your data and place it elsewhere. When you have a large file and need it to finish a project, you may find yourself having to start from scratch. Don’t spend another dime on MicroSoft’s bastardized cloud service. There are plenty of startups with more technical expertise than the dregs that Microsoft has left in their OneDrive ranks, with a few exceptions I know personally. Go with someone else. I have a commercial DropBox account and it’s never failed me, and Google Drive is always there waiting to help me transfer files to other machines.

And just a note — no cloud service is perfect. Keep backups in other locations. I have backups on one of my NAS drives, but they’re about a week old. That means I have to get the work done over for the week. Could be worse, of course.

Thanks, MicroSoft. Here’s a new tagline for you: “MicroSoft: Giving Comcast technical support workers hope that they won’t be listed at the top of the Worst Customer Service lists again.”