Yesterday, we reported that users were complaining about the latest OneDrive update not supporting any file systems other than NTFS. The new sync client for Windows effectively ended support for older file systems like exFAT and FAT32, along with the new ReFS.
If users had set up their OneDrive to sync to a drive that was formatted with one of the latter file systems, they booted up their PC to find that the client no longer worked.
But at the time, it was unclear whether Microsoft had made this change on purpose and without warning, or if it was a bug that would be fixed in a future update. As it turns out, this was supposed to be how OneDrive worked all along, and the company says that it simply fixed the bug that was enabling support on other file systems.
Microsoft issued the following statement to Neowin:
Microsoft OneDrive wants to ensure users have the best possible sync experience on Windows, which is why OneDrive maintains the industry standard of support for NTFS. Microsoft discovered a warning message that should have existed was missing when a user attempted to store their OneDrive folder on a non-NTFS filesystem – which was immediately remedied. Nothing has changed in terms of official support and all OneDrive folders will continue to need to be located on a drive with the NTFS filesystem
Of course, this doesn"t change the fact that Microsoft pushed this update without any warning to users that had synced their OneDrive to an exFAT, FAT32, or ReFS drive. Now, your only option will be to format the drive to NTFS and re-sync everything, or just use another cloud storage provider like Dropbox.