Microsoft brings OneDrive Files On-Demand to the Mac

[Arthur]

Source: Microsoft (via The Verge)

 

Microsoft is bringing its OneDrive Files On-Demand feature to macOS. OneDrive beta testers will be able to get access to the feature today, which lets OneDrive users use placeholders for files instead of syncing entire folders onto a MacBook. Mac users will be able to download files as they use them, instead of wasting space by syncing an entire OneDrive library.

 

The Files On-Demand feature requires macOS 10.14 Mojave (set to be released today) and an Apple File System (APFS) formatted volume. You can get early access to on demand OneDrive files on the Mac right here. Microsoft is also moving the Mac and Windows versions of OneDrive to a single code base, so that will mean the company will be testing more features for macOS each month. That will include testing features like Touch Bar integration, and any future OneDrive features planned for 2018 and beyond.

 

To try Files On-Demand for Mac, you'll need to do the following:

 

1. Update your operating system to the latest version of Mac OS Mojave 10.14. You can download and install Mac OS Mojave from the Mac App Store.
    
    
   
2. Enable OneDrive to update automatically by opting into either the Office Insiders update ring or the OneDrive Insiders update ring (this link runs a script).
    
    
   
3. If you've been using OneDrive on your Mac already (it's not a new account), quit OneDrive, delete the json files (*.json) in ~/Library/Caches/OneDrive, and then relaunch OneDrive.
   

 

 

Tagging @gshaw.

[psydii]

Yes! Just in time for what I need.

[DalekSec]

Shame it only works on APFS.....

[Arthur]

Shame it only works on APFS.....

Thankfully that's less of an issue now (assuming your Macs support 10.14).

 

https://arstechnica.com/features/2018/09/macos-10-14-mojave-the-ars-technica-review/3/#h2

 

APFS updates for hard drives and Fusion Drives

The Apple Filesystem, or APFS, was one of the biggest (though quietest) features included in High Sierra. If you installed the operating system on a Mac with an SSD, your filesystem was silently switched over from the decades-old HFS+ to something brand new. Aside from a handful of edge cases, the transition went without a hitch.

 

We won’t enumerate all the features and quirks of APFS here; for more of that, read our High Sierra review and/or one ZFS developer’s in-depth notes on APFS’ key features. For the most part, things are the same. But this is still a new filesystem in active development, so there are a handful of new tweaks in Mojave.

 

For starters, any Mac that wasn’t automatically switched to APFS last year will get switched when you upgrade to Mojave—even installing Mojave on an external HFS+ volume now converts it to APFS. This includes Macs with spinning hard drives (mostly older Macs, though some current iMacs and Mac Minis still ship with HDDs, weird as that is for top-shelf computers in 2018) and Fusion Drives. That’s good news for anyone with a Fusion Drive, since Apple implemented some APFS features specifically to benefit them.

 

Fusion Drives pair a small, fast SSD with a large, slow HDD, and macOS treats the pair of them as one big drive to provide the feeling of one big solid-state drive without the cost (upgrading a 27-inch iMac from a 1TB Fusion Drive to a 1TB SSD costs seven hundred American dollars). But Core Storage, the technology responsible for keeping the most frequently accessed files on the SSD, can only see data on your drive at the block level, not the file level. It can’t tell the difference between an app that needs to be launched quickly or a document that doesn’t need a lot of extra speed; all it can see is how frequently blocks are accessed.

 

APFS changes that. Fusion Drives can now move files to the SSD based not just on how frequently they’re accessed, but also based on how much the type of file will benefit from an SSD. APFS will store all file metadata on your SSD, too, speeding up Spotlight searches and metadata lookups in the Get Info window.

Edited September 25, 2018 by Arthur

[psydii]

I remain in awe that Arthur continues to be about 1/2hr ahead of me in all things.

[synaesthesia]

And they still don't have it properly usable for multi-user, multi-machine environments on Windows

[psydii]

Other than ‘not supported on RDS-like systems’ what issues are you seeing?

[synaesthesia]

If I recall correctly it still relies on the OneDrive client being installed which is a per-computer setting rather than per-user, so things go a bit crappy when profiles are deleted.

[Arthur]

And they still don't have it properly usable for multi-user, multi-machine environments on Windows

Windows 10 Enterprise for Remote Sessions will have OneDrive Files On-Demand.

[synaesthesia]

Again, all set up for RDS, still doesn't touch general school usage Unless I'm doing something daft!