.swm files taking up too much space

[Kush99]

Microsoft One Drive is telling me I am using too much storage.  Majority of files are backup.swm files.  Can I move them to an external drive 

[WAWood]

Kush99

Maybe you missied the announcement, but Microsoft is reducing everyone's OneDrive space to no more than 5GB -- which is a big drop from the former limits!

Sorry, but this is a Microsoft issue and we have nothing to do with what they are doing with OneDrive.

You will have to check the Microsoft forums to see what to do about your OneDrive space.

Good Luck

[Dragon-Fur]

@Kush99

These files are "data recovery backup" files probably created during a Recovery Procecss you ran to reset / recover your computer to factory condition.

Best Option

Remove the files from OneCloud sync -- you do have control over what is stored on your OneDrive, remove the folder (containing the files) from the list.  

How to Configure OneDrive to Sync Only Certain Folders in Windows 10

This might be a good time to review the entire list of folders you store in OneDrive.

Greedy for free "Cloud" space?  Try adding another "free" Cloud storage service to "catch" your extra data.

Less Ideal Option

This option requires that you know how to handle the data safefly AND that you accept responsibility for having moved the data.

If the files are located in a folder not easily removed from the OneDrive sync process, then yes - you can create a folder on a remote disk location, gather up the files and COPY them to the new location.  Verify they are where you think they belong before you delete the files in the original folder location.

If you need the data from the files and the usual "restore.exe" approach fails to work, you can use 7zip to extract the files into a folder.

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[Kush99]

Did you read my question?  I did get the annoucement, and that is why I posted the question.  The fact that these backup files.swm are taking up so much rooM on my one drive is the issue.  The back up files are hp files.  ALL I WANT TO KNOW IS IF IT IS OK TO MOVE THESE FILES TO AN EXTERNAL DRIVE

[Dragon-Fur]

@Kush99

Yes, you can move the files -- they are your files, your data.  You may not even need the data any longer -- these files are (typically) the result of asking the Recovery Operation to save you data.  After the fact, that is, after you computer is back up and running, you may -- or may not -- make use of the data.  You certainly do not need to keep it around forever.

If you do move the data to a remote disk AND then later you discover you cannot use the data as expected, you have the option of using 7zip to extract the contents of the .swm files.

The files are taking up space in your OneDrive setup because you are syncing the containing folder to OneDrive -- you have control over which folders you send to OneDrive Storage.