How to migrate your data from one cloud to another without downloading it

¿How to migrate your data from one storage service to another without downloading it? If you get it move gigabytes or even terabytes from one cloud to anotherThe last thing you want is to have your computer on for days downloading and uploading files. Besides wasting time, you're saturating your connection, taking up disk space, and increasing the risk of outages that could corrupt data.

The good news is that today there are Services and tools capable of migrating your data directly from cloud to cloudwithout going through your PC. They work by connecting to the APIs of Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Box, iCloud (with nuances) and many others, and they handle the entire process in the background, preserving permissions, metadata and folder structure.

What are cloud storage services and why do you end up having several?

Cloud storage is nothing more than save your files on remote servers managed by a provider (Google, Microsoft, Amazon, etc.) instead of on your hard drive. You pay—or take advantage of free plans—for space that you can use from any device and location with an internet connection.

These services are offered as a on-demand modelYou expand or reduce capacity as needed, without buying hard drives or maintaining infrastructure. You gain flexibility, redundancy, backup options, and "always-on" access to your data, for both personal and professional use.

It's common that, over time, you end up accumulating multiple accounts in different cloudsA personal Google Drive, a work OneDrive, an old Dropbox account, some Mega storage, maybe an Amazon S3 or a home NAS. Each has limits, specific features, or cheaper plans, so combining them becomes almost inevitable.

The problem is that when you want to reorganize all that chaos, Migrate data between cloud storage services It can be a pain if you limit yourself to the classic method: downloading to the PC and uploading again to the destination cloud.

That's precisely why multicloud management and direct transfer tools were created: They manage multiple clouds from a single interface.They synchronize content between them, perform cross-backups, and allow you to move data on a large scale without harming your computer.

Cloud-to-cloud migration: what it is and how it actually works

When we talk about cloud-to-cloud transfer We're referring to moving files directly between two online storage services, without the data physically passing through your computer or being temporarily stored on your disk.

These tools act as a intermediary that connects to your accounts via APIYou authorize access to your Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, etc., choose what you want to copy or move, indicate the destination, and the service takes care of sending the data from server to server, usually from its own infrastructure or directly between providers.

Many multicloud solutions also allow group dozens of clouds into a single interfaceIt works like an online file explorer. From there you can copy, move, rename, search, and organize folders without opening ten browser tabs or installing several different desktop apps.

The beauty of this approach is that You don't need local free space or an ultra-fast connection For migrating large volumes. Your machine only manages the session and task configuration; the data is never downloaded to your computer, but flows between data centers with much faster and more stable links than your home ADSL or fiber.

Modern cloud transfer tools also take care of preserve metadata, permissions, and directory structureThis means that creation and modification dates, sharing links, user and group access, and the folder hierarchy that took you so long to organize are all preserved.

For companies, this preservation of context is not a whim: It has a direct impact on regulatory compliance and workflowsIf permissions or activity logs are lost, you can run into serious audit or security problems. That's why enterprise solutions include detailed audits, change logs, and complete traceability of every transfer.

Advantages of migrating from cloud to cloud without going through your computer

The first big advantage is the speed and efficiencyThe traditional method first downloads all the content to your PC and then uploads it to the new cloud, doubling the traffic and limiting it to your home connection. In cloud-to-cloud transfers, data travels over high-capacity links between data centers, often within the same region or backbone, cutting waiting times by hours—or even days.

Another key point is the elimination of local storage requirementsEven if you need to migrate several terabytes, you can do it from a laptop with a 256 GB SSD without breaking a sweat. The files are never saved to your hard drive; you only see the progress in the transfer service's interface.

You also gain in preservation of metadata and permissionsWhen copying manually, dates change, public links break, and many sharing settings are lost. Professional platforms maintain timestamps, ACLs, user roles (reader, editor, owner), comments, and notes, provided the source and destination APIs allow it.

Most of these solutions also add, automation and scheduling of tasksYou can run migrations outside of business hours, perform daily synchronizations between two clouds, or run incremental backups without having to monitor them. You define the task once, and the system takes care of repeating it when necessary.

Finally, in corporate settings it is vital to have detailed reports and compliance functionalitiesRecords of what has been moved, when, who initiated it, what errors occurred, and how they were resolved. This is useful both for audits and for detecting weaknesses (for example, files that a certain group should no longer have access to).

Security and performance in cloud transfer

When you move data between cloud providers, the appearance of the security in transit and at destination It's non-negotiable. Major services (Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Box, etc.) already encrypt connections with TLS and typically offer encryption at rest, strong authentication, alerts, and granular access controls.

Reputable third-party tools add their own layer of protection: Data encryption during transfer, secure management of access tokenspermission limits and, in some cases, zero-knowledge encryption models where not even the tool provider can read your content.

In regulated environments (finance, healthcare, public administration) it is important that the service is accredited compliance with regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA, SOX or other certifications and provide comprehensive audit logs. Without that record of who did what and when, justifying a mass migration becomes complicated in the eyes of an auditor.

Performance doesn't depend solely on raw network speed: other factors also play a role. API call limits imposed by each provider, error control mechanisms, the way to slice large files and the ability to resume interrupted transfers without starting from scratch.

Services like MultCloud, Cloudsfer, CloudFuze, or Google's own tools (Storage Transfer Service) rely on Server-to-server connections, optimized routing, and chunked transfer to move even files of several gigabytes without anything crashing when there is a temporary outage, as happens when Transfer files from Dropbox to Google Drive.

Costs and pricing models when migrating data from one cloud to another

Before embarking on a reckless migration, it's important to understand What are you going to pay, and who?There are three factors: the cost of the transfer service, the data outflow charges from the originating provider, and the storage you will use at the destination.

Some platforms like MultCloud offer Free plans with a monthly traffic allowance (for example, 5 GB per month) which are suitable for testing or small personal migrations. From there, pay-per-data plans begin: X GB or TB included per year for a fixed fee.

Other services, such as Cloudsfer, follow a model of payment for useYou only pay for each GB transferred, ideal if you're doing a one-off migration and don't want a continuous subscription. Then there are the business offerings from tools like CloudFuze or cloudHQ, with monthly or annual subscriptions that include dedicated support, advanced features, and sometimes virtually unlimited traffic.

To that we must add the source provider data output costs (especially in clouds like Amazon S3, Azure, etc.), which charge for every GB you take out of their systems, and the cost of storage at the destination provider, which is billed according to space and, sometimes, operations.

Therefore, when comparing alternatives, don't just look at the base fee: review data limit, maximum file size, number of supported clouds, if there are extra charges for additional transfer threads, for priority support, or for features such as advanced permission mapping.

Key tools for transferring data between clouds in 2025

The ecosystem is broad, but some solutions stand out for their maturity, compatibility, and number of features when it comes to migrate data from one storage service to another without downloading it.

MultCloud: a very complete online multicloud manager

MultCloud has gained fame because centralizes more than 30 storage services (Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Photos, Amazon S3, MEGA, etc.) and allows you to move, copy, synchronize and back up between them from a simple web page, without installing anything.

It has a specific Cloud Transfer function With this tool, you define a source (for example, your personal Google Drive) and a destination (a business OneDrive), select folders or the entire drive, and start the migration. You can schedule this task to repeat daily, weekly, or monthly, and activate email notifications upon completion.

Among its extras are the Offline transfer (the task continues even if you close the browser), filters by extension to include or exclude file types, an option to delete the source data after copying, and a task list where you can see progress, errors, and retries.

The free version allows a limited monthly data transfer volume and a reduced number of concurrent threads. Upgrading your plan lets you gain more. More traffic, more speed (more transfer threads) and priority support, which is quite noticeable in large migrations.

CloudFuze: geared towards complex enterprise migrations

CloudFuze is clearly intended to organizations that have to move hundreds or thousands of accounts between different environments (for example, from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365 after a company merger).

The power of this tool lies in its ability to mapping users, groups, and permissions across platforms with very different security modelsIt preserves metadata, sharing history and folder structures, and generates detailed reports to prove that everything has been successfully completed.

It offers plans such as a Lite level with a monthly data allowance and unlimited user migrationsThis is useful for companies with many employees but not a huge volume of documents. From there, enterprise plans scale to migrations of hundreds of terabytes or even petabytes, with support from a dedicated team.

Cloudsfer: specialist in preserving metadata and special content

Cloudsfer has been focused on [this] for years. delicate migrations where metadata is everythingComments, descriptions, exact creation and modification dates, etc. It works with about 27 platforms, including Box.com, niche solutions, and even social networks like Instagram.

If your priority is that the files arrive with all their context intact - for example, in creative projects or legal environments - this more "premium" approach may be worthwhile. It maintains accurate migration records, verification facilities and tools to ensure that nothing has been left behind.

cloudHQ: strong in Google Workspace, Office 365 and SaaS apps

cloudHQ specializes in synchronize data between large SaaS suites such as Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 and Salesforce, plus more than 60 different applications and services (mailboxes, calendars, note-taking tools, etc.).

It focuses less on one-off migrations and more on the continuous unidirectional or bidirectional synchronizationIn other words, what you change on one platform is replicated almost in real time on the other, which is very useful for live backups or for working with two ecosystems at the same time.

Their free plan is rather limited in data volume, but sufficient for experimenting. Paid plans grant access to Unlimited bulk synchronizationGDPR compliance, robust authentication, and browser extensions that make it easy to integrate these features into your daily life.

Other interesting tools: RClone, RaiDrive, Air Explorer, odrive, Cloudevo, Cyberduck

Beyond purely online platforms, there are desktop applications that allow manage multiple clouds as if they were local drives and move data between them using drag and drop:

• RCloneOpen-source command-line and scripting tool compatible with over 40 cloud and file systems. Excellent for power users, servers, and automation.
• Rai DriveMount your cloud storage (Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Mega, etc.) as drives in Windows, so that Transferring files from one cloud to another should be as simple as copy/paste in the Explorer.
• Air explorer: graphical client for Windows and macOS that centralizes many clouds, allows encryption in transit, schedules tasks and works with plugins to add services.
• odriveA free solution that brings together more than 20 cloud services (including Slack and Amazon Drive) and offers unlimited synchronization between them without charging per data volume.
• Cloudevo y CyberduckThey also allow you to set up or manage multiple clouds at once, integrating with protocols such as FTP, SFTP, SMB or WebDAV, which are very useful if you combine cloud storage with your own servers or NAS.

When is it enough to download and upload… and when is it not?

Despite all of the above, there are scenarios in which the Traditional downloading and uploading still makes senseespecially if you only use the free plans and the data volume is not very high.

If you have, for example, a few gigabytes on Google Drive or OneDrive And if you want to migrate them to another account or platform, you can install the official applications for Windows or macOS, mark the folders as "Always keep on this device" and let the client sync everything to your disk.

Then simply install the app of the destination service (another account on the same cloud or a different platform) and Move the files using the system file explorer from one synchronized folder to another. At the user level it is very intuitive, although it requires having plenty of local space and a good dose of patience.

In iCloud, for example, you can mark items as “Always keep on this device” To force a local download, in Google Drive you choose the offline availability option and in OneDrive you select "Always keep on this device" from the context menu.

The big but: if the volume starts to approach hundreds of gigabytes or terabytesThis method becomes impractical, risky, and slow. That's where direct transfer tools and specialized services from the providers themselves (like Google Cloud's Storage Transfer Service) make all the difference.

Best practices for a smooth cloud-to-cloud migration

Before touching anything, it's best to start with a additional backup of critical dataIt could be on another cloud service, an external hard drive, or even a local NAS. Serious migrations rarely fail, but unforeseen events (power outages, configuration errors, accounts with incorrect permissions) do occur.

Once you have a backup plan, it's a good idea to do the following: migration tests with a representative subset of filesDocuments, shared folders, large files (videos, database backups, etc.). This way you can detect compatibility issues, size limits, or unusual permissions before launching the big migration.

It also helps a lot Schedule tasks during off-peak hoursNights or weekends, especially for businesses, are ideal times when you don't mind if part of the infrastructure is slower or under construction. While these transfers don't use your local bandwidth, they can disrupt cloud workflows (for example, temporarily blocking files in use).

At the end of each major batch, take time to verify the transfer resultsCompare file and folder counts, total sizes, manually review some folders, test shared links, and check that dates and permissions make sense.

And it's always a good idea to document the whole process: What has been moved, with what tool, what errors have appeared and how they have been resolvedThat little migration log will save you headaches if you have to repeat the operation in the future or justify it to third parties.

Common challenges when moving data between clouds and how to overcome them

One of the most frequent obstacles are the API speed limits and quota imposed by the providers themselves. If you perform too many operations in a row, the source or destination cloud may start responding more slowly or return limit exceeded errors.

Professional services typically implement rhythm control mechanisms and operation grouping to stay within those quotas without you having to touch anything, but it's worth checking that they explicitly mention this optimization in their documentation.

Another headache is the very large filesFiles of several gigabytes or tens of gigabytes in size can be ruined by a simple network outage without a system for uploading in chunks and intelligently resuming. Serious tools divide the file into blocks, upload each block with integrity checks, and resume from the last valid block.

Permission mapping between platforms is also delicate: Google Drive's sharing model is not the same as that of OneDrive, Box, or Dropbox.Translating these roles and access lists without leaving backdoors or blocking legitimate users requires specific logic and often custom rules from the administrator.

Finally, it is important to keep in mind the economic factor of output bandwidthEven if the transfer service itself is free (as is the case with some Google tools for moving data to cloud storage), the originating provider may charge you for each GB you take from their infrastructure. Delta synchronization and deduplication are key to minimizing this impact.

Alternatives when you only want to move data within Google Drive

A very common situation is needing Move files from one Google Drive account to another (For example, from a personal account to a business account, or from an old account to a new one). Google currently does not offer a native feature that automatically migrates everything between individual accounts.

The options include use the sharing and change of ownership system (in Google Workspace environments), create shared folders between accounts and move the files there, or use Google Takeout to export all the content and then import it again into another account.

You can also create a shared "bridge folder" between your different Google accounts, so that Everything you put there should be accessible to all of them.If you want to reorganize later, simply move files from that folder to their final locations within each account.

When needs go further—multiple accounts, continuous synchronization, integrations with other services—that's when it starts to make sense to make the leap to tools like MultCloud, move.io (recommended by Microsoft for moving data to OneDrive), or commercial solutions like Acronis If you're looking for a complete backup and restore approach.

Migrate your data from one storage service to another without downloading it It has gone from being a technical odyssey to a relatively routine process as long as you choose the right tool, are clear about your needs (one-time migration vs. continuous synchronization, volume, security) and calmly plan backups, tests and subsequent verification.