Microsoft kills OneDrive unlimited storage

Microsoft kills OneDrive unlimited storage

 

Microsoft has killed OneDrive unlimited storage after learning the meaning of Unlimited, with some users using over 75TB of storage on the service, which is almost 14,000 time the user average.

Microsoft say that these users have been exploiting the service, though you must remember that they offered these users an unlimited amount of storage, so they have done nothing wrong.

Users will not be limited to a maximum of 1TB of storage, with the free OneDrive service now being limited to 5GB.

 

 

What are the changes that you’re announcing?

We’re no longer planning to offer unlimited storage to Office 365 Home, Personal, or University subscribers. Starting now, those subscriptions will include 1 TB of OneDrive storage.

100 GB and 200 GB paid plans are going away as an option for new users and will be replaced with a 50 GB plan for $1.99 per month in early 2016.

Free OneDrive storage will decrease from 15 GB to 5 GB for all users, current and new. The 15 GB camera roll storage bonus will also be discontinued. These changes will start rolling out in early 2016.

 

Why are we making changes?

Since starting to roll out unlimited cloud storage to Office 365 consumer subscribers, a small number of users backed up numerous PCs and stored entire movie collections and DVR recordings. In some instances, this exceeded 75 TB per user or 14,000 times the average. Instead of focusing on extreme backup scenarios, we want to remain focused on delivering high-value productivity and collaboration experiences that benefit the majority of OneDrive users.

 

How much can be stored with the new storage limits?

• OneDrive free with 5 GB: enough space for approximately 6,600 Office documents or 1,600 photos.*
• Office 365 with 1 TB: enough space for approximately 1 million Office documents or 330,000 photos.*

*Based on 9-megapixel JPEG photos, .7 MB Office files, 3.5 minute songs. Capacity varies by content.

   

Users that are over Microsoft’s new storage limits will be informed of the changes and then will be given 90 days notice to act, after which their account will become read only. After these 9 months the account will be locked and after 1 year the account content will be deleted. 

This time should be enough to allow the users of OneDrive to move their stored content to other platforms, though the users that use 75TB of storage will have very limited options when it comes to storing the files elsewhere on the cloud or at home, after all servers are expensive and so are hard drives. 

 

You can join the discussion on Microsoft killing off OneDrive’s Unlimited storage plans on the OC3D Forums.