pCloud to OneDrive (and Back): What Changes When You Switch, in Either Direction

Moving between pCloud and OneDrive either way: the differences that break a naive copy — Crypto folder, Personal Vault, 250 GB files, file names — and how to copy.

Introduction

pCloud and OneDrive end up swapping users in both directions. People move from pCloud to OneDrive when a Microsoft 365 subscription already includes 1 TB per person and paying for pCloud on top stops making sense; others move from OneDrive to pCloud to get off the subscription with a one-time lifetime plan, or to keep files in pCloud's European data region. Either way the move is mostly a folder copy — both services are plain file storage with folders — but a handful of features exist on one side only and quietly break a naive copy.

This guide starts with those differences, then covers what to watch in each direction: pCloud's Crypto folder and file names OneDrive rejects on the way in; Personal Vault and OneNote notebooks on the way out. The last part shows one transfer that works both ways and how to run both services side by side while you switch.

The Short Answer
Differences That Change the Move
Moving pCloud → OneDrive
Moving OneDrive → pCloud
One Transfer, Either Direction
Running Both During the Switch
Frequently Asked Questions

The Short Answer

Copy the folders across — both services are folder-based — but first move anything out of pCloud's Crypto folder or OneDrive's Personal Vault, because no transfer tool can read either. Coming from pCloud, also check for files over 250 GB and names with characters OneDrive forbids. Going to pCloud, export OneNote notebooks separately.

Differences That Change the Move

	pCloud	OneDrive	What it means for the move
How you pay	Yearly plans or one-time lifetime plans (500 GB, 2 TB, 10 TB)	5 GB free; 100 GB with Microsoft 365 Basic; 1 TB per person with Personal or Family (up to 6 people)	A Family subscription is six separate 1 TB drives — large pCloud libraries may need splitting across accounts
Largest file	No limit	250 GB	Only matters pCloud → OneDrive
Client-side encrypted area	Crypto folder (paid add-on, passphrase only you know)	Personal Vault (extra sign-in step, not end-to-end encrypted)	Neither is readable by transfer tools; empty it into a normal folder first
File names	Accepts characters such as `: ? * \| " < >`	Rejects them, plus leading or trailing spaces and a few reserved names	Renamed or adjusted on the way into OneDrive
Deleted files and versions	Trash and Rewind for 15 days (free) or 30 days (paid); up to 365 days with Extended File History	Recycle bin for 30 days; previous versions per file	History stays behind; only current versions move
Data region	US or EU (Luxembourg), chosen when the account is created	Microsoft data centres, by account and country	pCloud's EU region is a common reason to move OneDrive → pCloud
Non-file items	—	OneNote notebooks, shortcuts to shared folders	Not copied as files when leaving OneDrive

Sources: Microsoft: restrictions and limitations in OneDrive, pCloud plans, rclone OneDrive notes on restricted characters and OneNote.

Moving pCloud → OneDrive

Decrypt the Crypto folder first. Its files are encrypted on your device and pCloud doesn't hand them to other apps in readable form. Unlock it in the pCloud Drive desktop app and copy the contents into a normal pCloud folder — or straight into your local OneDrive folder — then leave Crypto Folder out of the transfer selection.
Find files over 250 GB. Search pCloud for very large disk images and video masters. OneDrive won't accept them; split them, compress them, or keep them in pCloud.
Expect some renamed files. Names with : ? * | " < > \ are legal in pCloud and not in OneDrive. A transfer either fails on them or, as CloudsLinker does, swaps in similar-looking full-width characters (：？＊). Rename them in pCloud first if scripts or links depend on the exact names.
Size the Microsoft 365 plan. A Family subscription gives each of up to six people their own 1 TB OneDrive; it does not pool into 6 TB. A 3 TB pCloud lifetime library has to be split by person or folder.
Don't cancel a lifetime plan. There is nothing to save by deleting a paid-up pCloud lifetime account; keep it as an independent second copy for a while.

Moving OneDrive → pCloud

Empty Personal Vault into a normal folder. Apps using the OneDrive API can't open Personal Vault. Unlock it in the OneDrive app or website and move what you want to keep into a regular folder; in pCloud, put those files into the Crypto folder if they need the same protection.
Export OneNote notebooks. They live in OneDrive but are not files a transfer tool can copy. Keep them in OneDrive, or export them from OneNote.
Check "Shared" and shortcuts. Folders shared with you and added to My files as shortcuts belong to someone else's OneDrive; ask the owner, or copy the parts you are allowed to keep.
Decide the pCloud region before the account exists. pCloud asks for US or EU storage when you sign up, and moving an account to the other region later is a separate process, so create the account in the region you want before copying.
Office files stay editable, collaboration doesn't. Word, Excel and PowerPoint files copy as normal files, but co-authoring and Office's version history stay in OneDrive.

One Transfer, Either Direction

Three tools can do the copy. The desktop apps — pCloud Drive and OneDrive — let you drag folders from one to the other on a Windows or Mac computer, which works for a few gigabytes but pulls every file through your connection and fills the local cache. rclone supports both services and handles large libraries from a terminal, with the same character replacement for OneDrive. CloudsLinker does the copy on its own servers in either direction, with nothing installed:

Step 1: Connect pCloud

Click Add Cloud, choose Pcloud and click I got it, Authorize Now Pcloud. Sign in on pCloud's own page; CloudsLinker reads the account's region from pCloud's reply and uses the US or EU endpoint accordingly, so EU accounts need no extra setting.

CloudsLinker Connect Your Cloud Drive dialog for pCloud with the I got it, Authorize Now Pcloud button

Step 2: Connect OneDrive and Pick the Drive

Click Add Cloud, choose OneDrive and sign in on Microsoft's page. CloudsLinker then lists the drives the account can reach; click the one to use — your own OneDrive, not a shared library — and press Confirm Selection.

CloudsLinker dialog for connecting OneDrive through Microsoft sign-in

Step 3: Choose the Direction, Folders and Target

Open Transfer. Put the service you are leaving on the left: tick its folders in Source, leaving pCloud's Crypto Folder unticked. On the right, create a landing folder such as From pCloud (or From OneDrive) and select it. Keep Copy; Move would delete each file from the source after copying it. Size filters can hold back files over 250 GB on the way into OneDrive.

CloudsLinker Create transfer task page with pCloud as the source — My Pictures, My Videos, Clients and Archive 2018-2024 ticked, Crypto Folder and My Music left unticked — and a new From pCloud folder selected in OneDrive as the target, with Copy checked

Step 4: Start and Monitor the Transfer

Click Create transfer and follow it in Task monitor; it continues after you close the browser. When it finishes, open a few files with special characters in their names and the largest files at the destination, and compare folder sizes on both sides.

CloudsLinker Task monitor with All, Running, Scheduled and Failed tabs, a running task with a Cancel button and finished tasks with Retry buttons

Running Both During the Switch

A switch rarely happens in one evening. While devices still save to the old service, run the same transfer again from time to time — or schedule it on a paid CloudsLinker plan — and only new or changed files are copied. Point one device at a time to the new service: install the new desktop app, move phone photo backup over, then sign out of the old app.

When nothing writes to the old service any more, run the transfer one last time, check the landing folder, and move its contents into place. On pCloud, a lifetime plan can simply stay as the archive copy; on OneDrive, the files remain available until the Microsoft 365 subscription ends.

Frequently Asked Questions

Not as readable files through any transfer tool. Crypto folder contents are encrypted on your device with a passphrase pCloud doesn't have, and pCloud doesn't expose them to third-party apps in decrypted form. Unlock the Crypto folder in the pCloud Drive desktop app, copy its contents into a normal pCloud folder (or straight into your local OneDrive folder), and transfer from there.

OneDrive's Personal Vault needs a second identity check every time it is opened, and apps that use the OneDrive API cannot reach it. Unlock it in the OneDrive app or website and move the files you want to migrate into a normal folder first. On the pCloud side, the Crypto folder is the closest equivalent.

OneDrive rejects names containing < > : " \ | ? * and a few other patterns that pCloud accepts. CloudsLinker replaces those characters with similar-looking full-width versions — Q&A: draft?.txt arrives as Q&A： draft？.txt — instead of failing the file. If you need the original names, rename them in pCloud before copying.

pCloud has no file size limit on its plans; OneDrive accepts files up to 250 GB. Files larger than 250 GB in pCloud — disk images, raw video — can't go to OneDrive; split them or keep them in pCloud. In the other direction nothing is too large for pCloud.

No. OneNote notebooks in OneDrive are not ordinary files, and CloudsLinker leaves them out of the listing, as rclone does by default. Keep them in OneDrive or export them from OneNote before moving.

The folder structure does: the selected folders are recreated under the target folder. Share links and shared-folder memberships don't, because they belong to the old service, and only the current version of each file is copied — pCloud's Rewind history (15 days free, 30 days paid) and OneDrive's earlier versions stay behind.

The same way as a US account. You sign in on pCloud's own page and CloudsLinker reads the account's region from pCloud's reply, using the EU or US API endpoint accordingly; there is nothing to select.

Yes. Copy everything once, then run the same task again or schedule it on a paid CloudsLinker plan: by default, files already at the destination with the same name are copied again only if the size differs or the source is newer. Copy mode never deletes anything at the destination.

Conclusion

Before copying, decrypt pCloud's Crypto folder or empty OneDrive's Personal Vault into normal folders, because neither can be read by a transfer tool, and plan for OneDrive's 250 GB file limit and its character rules. Then copy with the desktop apps if the library is small, with rclone if you live in a terminal, or with CloudsLinker to copy server-side in either direction without a local download. Keep the old service for a while as a safety net — on a pCloud lifetime plan that costs nothing extra.

Related: pCloud and OneDrive connection notes, pCloud to Google Drive, and pCloud to SharePoint for business accounts.

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