Can OneDrive (consumer) function in lieu of my local hard drive?

In essence, I have a 1TB SSD in my laptop. Instead of saving files locally, I want to save them all to OneDrive, which will still allow me to access them (as they're also saved on my laptop) quickly and when I don't have an internet connection, but will sync with the cloud so I can access them when I don't have my computer and can serve as a backup of sorts.

Would that work properly?

If so, can anyone explain why I would need the "fetch my files" in OneDrive?

For some files I have them synched this way to multiple machines. They're simply there on each machine. Change them on one, they're changed on all.

OneDrive (or even Google Drive) work well to sync files across multiple devices *and* make them available in the cloud. I mainly use the latter, and it lets you select which folders to sync back to the cloud.

I did read somewhere that the OneDrive app in Windows 10 had removed the ability to select a subset of available folders to sync with your machine (so, it syncs it all). Not a big OneDrive user so someone else can come correct.

Bear in mind, this won't be a "backup" insofar as if you delete a file from your machine, the sync action will replicate that across every device that is sync'd to the OneDrive/Google Drive account. At least with Google Drive (and perhaps also with OneDrive) it'll sit in the "bin" for 30 days (I think) so you have limited recourse to recover the files.

This is not accurate, OneDrive in Windows 10 allows you select specific folders to sync.

Yes OneDrive has a recycle bin as well.

I thought with OneDrive, Dropbox, etc., a local copy of the file is stored on your computer and a synced copy is stored in the cloud - so copying files to these services does not remove them from your computer to free up local disk space.

It doesn't remove. It works as a backup in case you lose your computer but doesn't work as a backup if you accidentally delete stuff.

Which is why I'd do OneDrive and do weekly backups to an external hard drive to be extra cautious

I guess you answered your own question You can't use cloud storage in lieu of a local hard drive, which is the same question I had.

You could upload your weekly backup to a cloud folder that isn't synced locally. That way your backup would be in the cloud but wouldn't take any space on your local hard drive.

Dropbox does not store a copy of the saved file on my Android devices; only a link to the cloud file. Can't say for my Windows 7 machine, since I don't have a space issue with its hard drive.

One thing I don't like about OneDrive is that it forces you to login to Windows using Microsoft account. If you choose to login to Windows using the old username and password method it won't let you use the OneDrive app. With Windows 7, I could install the OneDrive desktop, but with Win 8 and above, it forces you to use the pre-installed OneDrive app.

I probably wasn't clear then in my initial question. You can't easily use OneDrive to replace your hard drive if you want to save hundreds of GB worth of data while only having a very small HD.

I meant that instead of saving my files only to my HD, to save them to OneDrive (on my HD) so that I retain local access without internet required but can also access my files whenever, even if I don't have my computer or something happens to my computer.

DropBox saves a local copy to your Windows computer unless you choose for the file not to sync with that device

You can upload files to OneDrive through the browser and choose which devices, if any, you want to sync those files to. I have over 50gb of ripped CD's and DVD's in my OneDrive that aren't synced or taking up space on any of my devices. They're only in OneDrive. If I want one of them, I download it to whatever device I want it on and then delete it from that device when I'm done but it always remains on OneDrive.

This might work...I need to fiddle with the settings to try it out, I assume once I do this, the local copy will be deleted from my hard drive? The only "downside" is I can't access the file while disconnected from the Internet, plus it will need to download for me to open it. I guess it's a good solution for archiving old stuff.

Great suggestions on Microsoft OneDrive - wasn't familiar with how good the prices are - might just check it out.

Assuming it's similar to DropBox, you could even save them to OneDrive on your computer and let it upload in the background without dealing with uploaders, and then choose to unsync from your computer.

Especially helpful with poor internet