How do I sync folders to the cloud?

While computers can be used to store documents, photos, videos, and other types of files, it is not very secure. Synchronizing data to cloud to create online copies of your files/folders for effective protection.

In this article, we will focus on how to sync any folder to OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, and other mainstream cloud storage services.

Reasons for syncing folders to cloud

Syncing files and folders to the cloud can bring you many benefits. We mainly explain this in the following four points:

• Most cloud storage devices provide free storage space for you to save data. For example, OneDrive comes with 5GB of free space, Google Drive offers 15GB of free cloud storage, and MEGA generously provides 50GB free cloud storage.
• It provides additional protection against unexpected factors such as hard disk failure and system crashes of the computer.
• You can access cloud files anytime, anywhere from any internet-connected device.
• It is easy to share files with others on cloud storage.

Section 1. Manually sync any folder to cloud

Popular cloud storage providers, such as OneDrive, Google Drive, and Microsoft OneDrive only support automatic synchronization of folders and files in the sync folders. And, local-synced files from cloud will take up a lot of local hard drive space. If you want to sync folders to cloud from any location, you can go on with the solutions in this section.

Suppose that you wish to automatically sync any folder to cloud, you can turn to the method in Section 2.

Method 1. Sync any folder to OneDrive

OneDrive only allows you to automatically sync Desktop, Pictures, and other user folders. If you want to sync Download folder to OneDrive, or let OneDrive sync any folder from external hard drive, here is what to do:

Step 1. Log in with your Microsoft account after installing the OneDrive desktop app on your computer, and finish the setup.

Step 2. Click Open my OneDrive folder to access the OneDrive sync folder. Or, go to the OneDrive folder on File Explorer if you have run this software before.

Step 3. Drag and drop any folder from your local hard drive to the OneDrive folder, and it will be uploaded to the OneDrive cloud then.

Method 2. Sync any folder to Dropbox

To let Dropbox sync any folder, a simple guide is listed below.

Step 1. Download and launch the Dropbox desktop application, and log in.

Step 2. After that, there would be a Dropbox folder on File Explorer.

Step 3. Drag the folders you want to synchronize and drop them into the Dropbox folder.

Method 3. Sync any folder to Google Drive

Making Google Drive sync any folder on computer is similar to syncing data to OneDrive and Dropbox. The difference is that after running the Google Drive client program, it will create virtual hard disks on PC. If you run multiple Google Drive accounts (up to four accounts), there would be multiple virtual disks. You can follow these steps:

Step 1. Install the Google Drive for desktop app on computer, and sign in.

Step 2. Find the Google Drive virtual disk, and add files from your computer to it. Then, they will be synced to the cloud.

Section 2. Automatically sync any folder to cloud

How to sync folders from any location automatically and without local copies? CBackup is an excellent solution. This is a professional and free cloud backup and sync tool that provides unconditional support for syncing folders to cloud.

It allows you to sync any folder to Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, and multiple clouds for free. Further, it comes with many powerful features:

• Schedule sync: By setting up scheduled sync, you could sync folders to cloud daily, weekly, or monthly.

• One-way sync: You can perform Google Drive/Dropbox/OneDrive one-way sync by synchronizing folders from local to cloud without syncing locally, saving your local storage.

• File Filter: This feature enables you to exclude certain files from sync or contain only specific files for sync with ease.

How to sync any folder to OneDrive/Google Drive/Dropbox

In the following, we take OneDrive as an example to show you the detailed step:

Step 1. Download CBackup, install and launch it. Create an account free, and sign in.

Step 2. Click Storage, choose OneDrive, and hit Authorize Now to add it to CBackup.

Step 3. Tap on Sync, and select Sync PC to Public Cloud.

Step 4. Pick folders to sync, and specify a OneDrive folder as the destination.

Step 5. Click Settings > tick Set a Sync schedule for automated Sync > choose a sync frequency > click OK. Press the Start Sync button to sync folders from any path to cloud effortlessly.

Bonus tip: Easiest way to gain more cloud storage for free

As previously mentioned, some clouds may offer free storage space. Actually, most of them only give very limited free space. If you wish to upload large files to OneDrive and other clouds or sync a great number of folders, you may need more cloud storage.

How to increase cloud storage without paying? Luckily, you could combine cloud accounts to get that using CBackup. CBackup allows you to merge cloud accounts from different platforms to expand cloud space at no cost.

Step 1. Get started by logging in to CBackup.

Step 2. Click + Add Cloud under Storage to add all your cloud accounts to it.

Step 3. Tap on the + Add Combined Cloud button, and tick all target clouds to combine, then click Next > Combine.

As long as you have enough cloud accounts, you can even get unlimited cloud storage for free. Now, click Backup > Backup PC to Combined Cloud to enjoy this huge space.

In addition to folder backup, CBackup offers more functions for users:
➯ Support backing up files to clouds and restoring them whenever needed.
➯ Offer 10GB of free backup space for its CBackup Cloud.
➯ Provide cloud-to-cloud backup/sync to help you migrate files between clouds without downloading and uploading, like syncing OneDrive to Google Drive.

Conclusion

All in all, to sync any folder to cloud manually or automatically, the right method is of great importance. With a cloud sync tool, like CBackup, you could make the sync process more simple and more efficient. Just follow the steps above to free your hands by syncing data to cloud regularly.