[nomilk]

> Using cloud services, in addition to local backups

That's exactly what he had - it didn't safeguard against file loss, but caused it.

[optionalsquid]

But local solutions can also cause file loss, if you don’t know how to use them correctly.

For example, rsync and rclone will happily overwrite/delete your files if you mess up the argument order.

The problem with OneDrive is not that it is cloud-based, but rather that its design is somewhere between baffling and intentionally user-hostile

[nomilk]

Yeah, exactly. The vast majority of the time having a backup saves you. Microsoft just managed to make a product so bad it harms users. It's like if you installed a smoke alarm, only for it to short circuit and start a fire. In these cases, the "protection" is the cause of the harm. Bafflingly bad.

[concinds]

Only because he didn’t understand how “syncing” works, and deleted the files in the cloud which deleted them off his computer. The “file loss” was pure user error.

[JohnFen]

If a feature requires training in order to use it without risk of serious data loss, perhaps that feature should not be enabled by default.