I used to be a PhD student at a university and had many important files stored on OneDrive, but I also kept them downloaded on my PC for offline access. After I left the university, I figured I could still access those files since they were downloaded. However, when my university email was deleted, I lost access to all my OneDrive files, even the ones stored on my hard drive. Is there any possible way to access those files directly from my PC now? I know it might be a long shot, but I've tried reaching out to the university for help, and they weren't able to assist me with recovering them.
2 Answers
Once your university email is deleted, your access to OneDrive files ends, which also affects any files synced to your PC. It's unfortunately part of how OneDrive's sync works. Your best chance might be to check with your university to see if there’s any grace period for file recovery, but the chances are slim since they deleted your email. In the future, it’s a good idea to back up important files in a separate location to avoid this issue.
If you've reached out to the university but haven't gone in person, I recommend visiting the campus help desk. They might still have options for you in person that aren’t available online. It never hurts to ask face-to-face!
Right? It's definitely a lesson learned. Always keep local backups separate from any cloud accounts tied to institutions.