OneDrive for Business is now 5 TB

If you’re an Office 365 Enterprise customer, there is news from Microsoft.  OneDrive for Business storage will be increased from 1 TB to 5 TB allocated storage per user.  This is some good news in the wake of Microsoft announcing it was not going to honor its claim of unlimited storage for OneDrive (personal not business). 

Who is getting this update?  Unfortunately this increased storage is only available to premium Office 365 Enterprise subscriptions.  If you are using the E1 plan, you are out of luck!

  • Office 365 Enterprise E3, E4 and E5
  • Office 365 Government E3, E4 and E5
  • Office 365 Education
  • OneDrive for Business Plan 2 and SharePoint Online Plan 2

 

If you’re not familiar with OneDrive for Business here is a quick overview.  OneDrive for Business is cloud-based storage included in all of the Office 365 Enterprise offerings (E1, E3, E4, E5).  Unlike the personal version of OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive), OneDrive for Business uses SharePoint as it’s back-end storage.  The look and feel is very similar to the other cloud storage providers (DropBox, OneDrive, Google Drive, etc.).  Accessing your files can be done using either the sync tool, or through the Office 365 web portal.

 

 

But wait, there is a new client too

Microsoft has also released an updated sync client for OneDrive for Business.  One of the big roadblocks previously in OneDrive for Business was the ability to only synchronize small files (under 2 GB), and a maximum of 20,000 files total.  The file size limitation has been increased to allow synchronization of 10 GB files with no limit on the number of files.

Before you jump to upgrade, there are some downsides.  It sounds like this isn’t just another version of the Groove sync client, but rather a complete rewrite of the software.  This is a new generation of synchronization clients for OneDrive for Business, and does not yet have all of the functionality you may be used to.  Here is additional information on the new sync client for OneDrive for Business.

Robert Borges

About Robert...

I have been in the IT industry since 1993 focusing mainly on networking. Though I got an early start as an amateur computer enthusiast and wrote my first database app at age 12, I started my professional career working in the MIS department of one of the largest liquor distributors in the northeast. I started out there as a systems operator on the company’s two mainframe systems. From there I moved into PC support, and help design and implement the company’s first client-server network… This was back in the days of Win NT 3.51 when I worked on my first migration to Windows NT 4.0 server.

From there I went on to work with Novell 3.x and 4.x along with Windows domains and Microsft's brand new Active Directory. Working my way up from technician to specialist, to an administrator, and eventually all the way up to Sr. Engineer. I spent many years working for MSPs/consulting firms, 9 of which I owned and operated my own firm.

Over the years, I have worked with (at an expert level) various versions of Windows client and server operating systems (including Windows 11 and Windows Server 2019); various virtualization technologies (Hyper-V, VMware, etc.); MS-SQL server 6.5- 2014 R2; Exchange 4-2019, and much more.  Over the years I have built a lot of experience around the Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365 cloud environments.

I am now CTO at Infused Innovations where our team is focusing on helping clients build a Secure Intelligent Workplace through InfoSec (Zero Trusts Framework), Modern Workplace, and Business Intelligence.

I have been heavily involved in the IT user group community, including serving as president of the board of Boston User Groups, Inc., and president of IT-Pro User Group. In 2017/2018 Microsoft awarded me the Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) Award, with a focus of Microsoft Azure cloud, for my efforts in the IT community.

I am in a constant state of learning about new products, and new versions of products. Many of which we end up implementing in lab environments and sometimes for our clients. I have a very broad range of expertise and experience. It is my goal to share some of this experience on this blog to help enrich the IT community.

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