Network drive full what to do

Summary

This guide helps you troubleshoot and resolve: Network drive full what to do. Follow the steps below to fix the issue.

Common Causes

Running out of space on your office network drive or NAS can bring productivity to a halt. When your shared folders reach capacity, staff may be unable to save new files, and critical business data becomes difficult to access. Migrating your network drives to SharePoint Online and OneDrive gives your team flexible cloud storage, real-time co-authoring, and automatic version history without the ongoing cost of maintaining local hardware.

Quick Fix Steps

1. Identify which shared folders are consuming the most space.
2. Review file permissions and access requirements for each department.
3. Plan your migration to SharePoint team sites and OneDrive for Business.
4. Move files in stages, starting with less critical data.
5. Update shortcuts and train staff on accessing files via the cloud.

Detailed Instructions

1. Assess your current storage usage

1. Log in to your file server or NAS management interface.
2. Run a storage report to identify large folders and unused files.
3. Note which teams rely on specific shared drives, such as the common Z: drive.
4. Check for duplicate files and outdated versions that can be archived or deleted before migration.

Tip: Schedule your migration outside of business hours to avoid disrupting staff who are actively saving files to the network drive.

2. Prepare your Microsoft 365 environment

1. Ensure each user has a Microsoft 365 license that includes SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business.
2. In the Microsoft 365 admin centre, select Show all, then choose SharePoint.
3. Create team sites for departments that currently share network folders.
4. Set up document libraries within each site to mirror your existing folder structure.

3. Migrate shared folders to SharePoint Online

1. Open your SharePoint site in a web browser.
2. Select Documents from the left navigation.
3. Choose Upload and then Folder to move your shared files.
4. Alternatively, open the document library in File Explorer by selecting Open in Explorer from the ... menu, then copy files directly from your network drive.
5. Verify that all files have uploaded successfully before decommissioning the old share.

Caution: Do not delete files from your network drive until you have confirmed they are accessible in SharePoint and staff have tested opening and editing them.

4. Configure permissions and access

1. In SharePoint, select Settings (the gear icon) and choose Site permissions.
2. Add staff members or groups and assign the appropriate access level, such as Members for edit access or Visitors for read-only access.
3. For sensitive folders, use Advanced settings to break inheritance and set unique permissions.
4. Map OneDrive for Business for individual users so they can access personal files from any device.

5. Enable seamless co-authoring

1. Ask staff to open Word, Excel, or PowerPoint files directly from SharePoint or Teams.
2. Multiple users can edit the same document simultaneously using real-time co-authoring.
3. Changes save automatically, reducing the risk of conflicting file versions.
4. Use version history to restore previous versions if needed. Select the file, choose ..., then Version history.

Troubleshooting

Files will not upload to SharePoint

• Check that the file name does not contain unsupported characters such as ", *, or :.
• Ensure the file size is within SharePoint limits (up to 100 GB per file).
• Verify you have edit permissions for the destination document library.

Staff cannot access migrated folders

• Confirm the user has been added to the SharePoint site members group.
• Ask the user to clear their browser cache or try opening the site in an InPrivate window.
• Check that conditional access policies are not blocking sign-in from their location.

Sync conflicts between OneDrive and local files

• Encourage staff to work directly from SharePoint or Teams rather than keeping local copies.
• Use OneDrive Files On-Demand to access cloud files without downloading them all to the local device.
• If a conflict occurs, OneDrive will create a separate copy. Review both versions and save the correct one back to SharePoint.

Moving from a local network drive to SharePoint Online removes the burden of managing on-premises storage hardware. Your team gains the ability to access files from anywhere in Australia, collaborate on proposals in real time, and recover previous versions with just a few clicks.

If you host with us, you don't need to do this yourself — just Open a Ticket and our Brisbane team will get it sorted.

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