Microsoft reduces OneDrive storage limits, free limit sliced to 5GB

Microsoft is making changes to its OneDrive storage plans available for consumers. It has said that since it started rolling out unlimited cloud storage for Office 360 customers, a number of users have backed up their entire movie collections and DVR recordings to the cloud storage service. In some cases, this exceeded 75TB for a single user! The company says, “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.” On Its OneDrive blog page, Microsoft has listed all the changes that they have made to OneDrive.

The company says that they are no longer planning to offer unlimited storage to Office 365 Home, Personal, or University subscribers. Starting now, those subscriptions will include 1TB of OneDrive storage. As of now, 100GB and 200GB paid plans are being done away with as an option for new users, and will be replaced with a 50GB plan for $1.99 per month in early 2016.

Free OneDrive storage will decrease from 15GB to 5GB for all users, current and new. The 15GB camera roll storage bonus will also be discontinued. These changes will start rolling out in early 2016. This is a downside, as Gmail still allows users to have 15GB of Google Drive storage.

It was great to see Microsoft offer unlimited cloud storage, and it was only inevitable for someone to exploit it. Having said that, it’s disappointing to watch Microsoft roll back this feature, especially since the company is focusing on mobile-first, cloud–first initiative. Is this like the time they announced DRM content for the Xbox One and then rolled back? We certainly hope not.

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Sameer Mitha

Sameer Mitha lives for gaming and technology is his muse. When he isn’t busy playing with gadgets or video games he delves into the world of fantasy novels. View Full Profile