14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has just released a public preview of the 64-bit version of the OneDrive sync client for Windows.
In case you’re wondering what are the benefits of using a 64-bit version of the client instead of the 32-bit, Microsoft emphasizes that you should experience better performance, especially in the case of large files. And of course, OneDrive should eat up less memory on a 64-bit system.
It goes without saying that you can only install the 64-bit version of OneDrive on an x64-based processor, but on the other hand, such a system also supports the 32-bit version of the client.
However, the company recommends owners of ARM64 devices to stick with the 32-bit OneDrive client going forward.
Still in public preview for now
“To move from the 32-bit to 64-bit (or vice versa) you'll need to make sure the OneDrive version you install is the same version as you currently have, or newer,” the company explains.
“The 64-bit version is the right choice if you plan to use large files, if you have a lot of files, and if you have a computer that's running a 64-bit version of Windows. Computers running 64-bit versions of Windows generally have more resources—such as processing power and memory—than their 32-bit predecessors. Also, 64-bit applications can access more memory than 32-bit applications (up to 18.4 million Petabytes).”
For now, however, the new OneDrive client is still in the public preview stage, so it would take a while until everybody would be able to install it on production systems.
On the other hand, I already tested this new release and it seems to be working quite neatly, without any major issues whatsoever. But of course, I rarely upload large files, so in my case, the 32-bit client did its job very well anyway.