OneDrive is a cloud storage solution offered by Microsoft and is often chosen as an alternative to Google Drive due to its reliability, and industrial-grade security.
OneDrive enjoys a dominating position in the cloud storage market for personal and business users. The baseline of storage is 5 GB and available for free of charge to Outlook users. All other packages require a payment to be made on a monthly or yearly basis. Not long ago, OneDrive used to offer 15 GB of free space for the general public, but it reduced this storage allocation to 5 GB in 2016. However, there are still a couple of ways to increase this free quota for free of charge. Back then are a few hacks that can help you increase your account allocation. Let’s look into these methods one by one.
Solutions
Solution 1: Invite Someone
This method is quite popular for almost all cloud storage platforms. The user gets a unique referral URL, and sharing it with someone else allows both people to receive free space up to a certain limit. In OneDrive, both individuals stand to top up their account by a handsome 0.5GB (or 512 MB). The aggregate total a user can get courtesy successful invitations to other users is 10 GB! This adds up to the already existing free storage of 5 GB, and thereby the total allocation stretches up to a total of 15 GB! The following steps demonstrate how to get this free space with ease.
- Navigate to this web address and sign into your Microsoft account: https://onedrive.live.com/
- Hover the mouse pointer on the cog icon located at the top-right corner on the screen and click it to open the menu. Now select Options.
Opening up Options - Locate the Referral Bonus section and click on the Earn more link.
- Clicking this link opens a new window where it shows the referral link to be shared. The user can simply share it on any social network or through email, and mutually gain 0.5 GB of storage space for every single invite that gets a positive response.
The shareable link is unique to every user
Solution 2: Purchase Office 365 Premium Package
This method is not for those users who seek freebie friendly techniques. However, if someone has already purchased an Office 365 package, then getting 1 TB of OneDrive space for free of cost is easily doable. On top of that, possessing an Office 365 account is not only useful for gaining free storage, it also enables the user to get the full advantage of a big range of Microsoft office products. These products can be used from anywhere across the globe, as long as Internet access is available. Additionally, the user also gets Office 2016 suite for both Windows and Mac operating systems for free along with the package.
Solution 3: Being a Student or Tutor in a Recognized Institute
Students and teachers who are a part of an accredited educational institute are eligible for unlimited OneDrive space for completely free of charge. The catch over here is that this feature is currently available for only a select group of countries.
- Navigate to this URL: https://products.office.com/en/student/office-in-education?ms.officeurl=students
- Type the email address provided by the educational institute in the given textbox and click Get started.
- Registering for the program grants not only free unlimited OneDrive storage but also unlimited access to Office 365 programs. As per Microsoft, initially a staggering 5 TB of storage is provided for every user, even this can be extended depending on the user requirements by if Microsoft support is requested for it.
Raza Ali Kazmi works as an editor and technology content writer at Sorcim Technologies (Pvt) Ltd. He loves to pen down articles on a wide array of technology related topics and has also been diligently testing software solutions on Windows & Mac platforms. If you have any question about the content, you can message me or the company's support team.