We are going to explain how to move all your content from one cloud storage service to another, so you can move your files easily if you have decided to unsubscribe from one cloud service and switch to another. Actually, it is a process that you will be able to do in a relatively simple way.
There are two general methods by which you will be able to do this process most of the time. The only complication may be in getting your files from the cloud where you have them to another one, but with these two methods you will be able to do it in a relatively simple way. We do not want the article to be eternal, so we will simply explain the two methods in a generic way for you to apply them to your cloud storage service, whether OneDrive, Google Drive or iCloud.
Download all your data at once
Many companies like Google or Apple have online services to request a copy of your data. For example, you can use Google Takeout and choose to download only your data from Google Drive, or Apple’s privacy settings to download your data from iCloud. In the privacy settings of your Microsoft account, under Product and Service Activity you will also see the option to download the data, and so on with all cloud services.
Here, the download procedure will depend on each service, although in general, when they are those of companies with several services such as Apple, Google or Microsoft, it is normal that at some point in the process you have to choose from which service you want to download the data, and you will have to choose the cloud storage.
With these processes, what you will do is request a backup, which often comes in the form of download links from the pages where you have made the backup. They usually take more than 24 hours to be available, and you will be notified by email to proceed to download it.
And now, the only thing left for you to do is to upload these files you have downloaded to the new cloud. Here, one of the two methods is through their website, where there are usually options to upload files directly from your computer, or the entire contents of a folder.
Use the official applications
The other method is even simpler, and that is to use the desktop apps of both services. In this case, the mobile apps do not always allow you to do everything, or your phone may not have that much memory, so it is often convenient to do it via a computer. Here, simply Google the name of the cloud storage service, and almost everyone will have a tool to install it on your computer.
What these applications do is to reserve a space on your PC’s hard drive to download the content you have in the cloud. Therefore, in addition to being synchronized in the cloud, the files can also be downloaded to the computer, although taking up storage space.
The PC tools in your cloud will have the option to keep the content synchronized by downloading it to the PC, so that everything you have in the cloud is downloaded to the computer. Here, you usually have the choice between keeping everything downloaded to the PC or downloading only the contents of specific folders. In both cases, it is a good way to have all the content of one of your clouds on your computer.
Once you have the downloaded files on your computer, you can take them to an external hard drive in case you are not going to have space for the next step. This will be to also download the cloud computer application where you want to upload everything, and move the content you want to upload to the folder that is created in your file explorer. This is easier than uploading from the service’s website.
A couple of things to keep in mind
Here, you should know that both methods are interchangeable, you can download the data from one service through their online option for that, and then upload it to the other using their desktop application. Also, if you download the files through one application, you can then uninstall it to have only the one from the cloud service you want to keep.
Another thing to keep in mind is that some of the cloud storage services may not have one of the methods well implemented. For example, OneDrive does not allow you to download your files from the web like other services, while the iCloud application does not allow you to choose the hard drive on which you want to create folders to download your files.