Free Storage Of One Drive's Will Officially Goes Down To Just 5GB On July 27
Previously, Microsoft declared that due to the misuse of the system, they would be reducing the amount of free OneDrive storage that they were offering out to customers. Free accounts that initially gave 15GB were said to reduce to 5GB, but the backlash that followed saw Microsoft compromise.
It also got rid of the 15GB additional camera roll storage as well. However, after a huge backlash from its users, the company decided to continue the 15GB camera roll bonus offer.
"Since we started 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," Microsoft explained back in November.
Now, the company has sent out an email declaring that the change will take place by July 27 this year. So, it will be better for users to move their important information somewhere before the given date. It is also worth declaring that for new accounts, Microsoft has already started applying the 5GB free storage limit.
With the given date, Microsoft says it will also be removing the 15GB camera roll activation storage onOneDrive too. This means that if the user wants more that 5GB of OneDrive space, a user would have to pay for it.
"We want to let you know about some upcoming changes to OneDrive. On 27/07/2016, the amount of storage that comes with OneDrive will change from 15GB to 5GB. We are also discontinuing the 15GB camera roll bonus," said the email.
The company also added that "we realise these are big changes to a service you rely on. We want to apologise for any inconvenience that they may cause you. We've made a difficult decision, but it's one that will let us sustainably operate OneDrive into the future."
This move by Microsoft might force some heavy users to pay for cloud storage, and likely, it may drive them towards competitors such as Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, and others.
Users, for now, can try one month of Office 365 for which they get 1TB OneDrive free for a month for up to 5 users. Office 365 Personal with 1TB OneDrive costs Rs. 3,299 per year or Rs. 330 per month, while the Office 365 Home + 1TB OneDrive for up to 5 users is rated at Rs. 4,199 per year or Rs. 420 per month. Users can also upgrade their 5GB of free storage to 50GB by paying Rs. 123 every month.