Reclaim Your Missing SkyDrive Space

Like the old saying, what one hand giveth the other taketh away.

Today, Microsoft upgraded its SkyDrive service with some improved functionality including the ability to access it as a drive in Windows Explorer or on your Mac but in doing so it is downsizing the generous 25GB of storage to 7GB. It’s a bit of a slap in the face for those already using the service but the good news is that you can hang on to your space – you just need to let Microsoft know that you want it.

So how do you go about reclaiming the SkyDrive space that you already have in your account?

Firstly, login to your SkyDrive account here.

SkyDrive - Main Screen

At the top of the screen, you’ll see a large link reading “SkyDrive’s free storage is changing – claim your free 25GB” – click it to go to the next screen.

SkyDrive - Manage Storage

On this screen, you should see a button for the “SkyDrive Free” plan that says “Free upgrade!” – click it!

After a little processing you should get a window telling you that your account has been “upgraded” to 25GB of storage (which is what you had yesterday).

Anyway, I find it very odd that Microsoft decided to make this an opt in arrangement rather than just letting everyone keep their existing 25GB of space. For people already over the 7GB limit it’s nice to know that Microsoft has let you keep the 25GB without having to jump through this hoop. Maybe it’s because of the rumours of Google offering just 5GB with its upcoming cloud storage service but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.