Google Drive is a cloud file storage service offered by Google for its users to store files and data. By default, it comes with 15GB of free storage for all users. In this digital era, it is easy to fill this 15 GB of storage space. In this article, we will be discussing how to move files from one Google Drive to another.
We will look into both manual and professional methods that you can use and look at the difference between using these methods.
Manual Method to Transfer Files Between Google Drive Accounts
One of the most basic methods you can use is the download and upload method. It is usually recommended to users who have only a small amount of data they want to migrate between 2 accounts.
Steps to Use Download and Upload Method to Move Files From One Google Drive to Another
- First, log in to the account from which you want to download the files. That is the source account.
- Then navigate to your Google Drive account and select the files that you want to download.
- Once you have selected the required files that you want to download, click on the right mouse button and select the download option.
- Once the process is completed log out of your account and log into the destination account.
- From your destination account click on the upload file option.
- Navigate to the path where you have downloaded the files and select them.
- Once the upload process is completed you will have moved files from one Google Drive to another.
This might seem like a very straightforward method but there are a lot of limitations while using them.
Limitations of Using Manual Methods
- The biggest problem with this method is that it is very time-consuming. Depending on your data and your internet bandwidth it might take a long while to migrate your data. This is since first we have to download the whole data to our device and then upload it to the destination account.
- Another issue is that you need to have enough storage to download the data from your account. This can become a problem especially when you have a lot of data in your account.
- Having a slow internet connection can also contribute to the time taken to complete this method.
- This method also only supports transferring data from only Google account to another. If you want to migrate data files from multiple accounts to a bunch of accounts then it can’t be done together. You will have to do them one by one.
Professional Tools to Transfer Files Between Google Drive Accounts
From the above, it is clearly visible that using the manual method comes with a lot of limitations. This can be more cumbersome for users who have a large amount of data that they want to migrate. Most Reliable G Suite Migration Tool is the best tool that can help you in a situation like this. This tool makes the whole process much easier for the user. It also has advanced functions that allow you to filter out data like using a date filter before the migration process.
Let us now look at the step-by-step instructions that we have to follow to use this tool.
- First using the link given download the tool and install it on your system.
- From the setup, screen choose the source and destination as G Suite.
- Under the destination selection option in the workload section select the category to transfer files from between Google accounts. In our case uncheck everything and on the check box near documents.
- If needed you can also apply a date filter to filter the files before the migration process.
- Move on to the source section and enter the details of the source account such as admin email, service account, and also upload the certificate file. Once done validate the files by clicking on the validate button.
- Now in the destination tab enter the details of the destination account like admin email, service account, and upload the certificate file and validate the files.
- After this, we have to get the details of the users. This can either be done by fetching them from the source account. Or you can do it manually by importing the CSV file with the same data.
- Once all the users are imported into the tool we have to map them to the destination account.
- This can either be done one by one or in batches by uploading a file with the same data.
- Once done click on the validate button to validate the permissions and then click on the start migration button to move files from one Google Drive to another.
You can download the migration report once the process is completed. The tool does also offer the option to re-try migration for any files that have failed during the migration process. You can also perform delta migration for migrating any new data that has arrived in the account. Or re-run the entire migration process again as a whole if needed.
Conclusion
In this article, we have taken a look at the different methods that you can use to move files from one Google Drive to another. We have seen that using the manual method has a lot of limitations. Hence for the best and a seamless experience we recommend, using the professional tool.
