In MacOS, how move OneDrive to an external drive?

Question

In MacOS, I need to move OneDrive to an external SSD drive. The Mac is a Mac mini and the drive is located in a permanent hub connected to the desktop. The Mac is running MacOS 15.3

I did follow the procedure but there is no synchronization. SSD drive is formatted APFS, I have tried both APFS and APFS Encrypted. The same result.

What can I do?

Answer 1

Hi @Pedro Nunez

Is there any error message during the process?

I suggest you try following steps to have a check:

• Make sure OneDrive is syncing properly before you attempt to move it to the external SSD.
• Close OneDrive by clicking the OneDrive icon in the top bar, then select Quit OneDrive.
• Open Finder, locate your OneDrive folder (usually in the home directory /Users/YourUsername/OneDrive).
• Copy the entire OneDrive folder to your external SSD.

Note: This folder should be placed directly on the SSD, not in any subfolders (e.g., /Volumes/ExternalDrive/OneDrive).

• Open OneDrive again and click on the OneDrive icon in the menu bar.
• Go to Preferences > Account and click Unlink this Mac.
• After unlinking your account, restart OneDrive. It will prompt you to set up OneDrive again.
• During the setup, when it asks you for the location of your OneDrive folder, choose the OneDrive folder you moved to the external SSD. Select the location on your SSD where you copied the folder (e.g., /Volumes/ExternalDrive/OneDrive).
• OneDrive will now start syncing with the external SSD. Depending on the number of files, this might take some time.
• Ensure the SSD is connected and mounted when your Mac is on and when you want to sync your files.

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