When a file migration comes up
Typical triggers: the company is introducing Microsoft 365 and wants to retire Dropbox or a self-hosted Nextcloud; a Google Workspace organisation is moving to Microsoft and Drive has to go to OneDrive and SharePoint; a MagentaCloud or ownCloud storage is being cancelled; or an S3 bucket with project data is to become accessible to the team in Google Drive. Often the file migration is part of a larger move, in which case we combine it with the Microsoft 365 migration or the tenant migration; it can equally be commissioned as a project of its own.
The common denominator: a manual download and upload is neither complete nor verifiable for more than a handful of users. Shares get lost, timestamps are overwritten, and afterwards nobody knows whether every file really arrived.
Sources, targets and exactly what is transferred
As sources we support Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Nextcloud, ownCloud, MagentaCloud, Amazon S3 and WebDAV storage; as targets OneDrive or SharePoint document libraries, or Google Drive. We transfer files with the complete folder structure and file and folder shares including sharing links, as far as the target system knows the concept. Personal drives up to 50 GB per user are included in the fixed price of €19; shared folders, shared drives and team libraries are quoted after the discovery analysis.
Two limits we name in advance: SharePoint permissions at site and library level are not migrated automatically; they are set again in the target, and the final report lists the libraries concerned. In addition, every target system rejects certain file names, special characters or path lengths; such objects are not skipped silently but renamed automatically by a fixed rule and listed in the final report with their old and new names. Google-native files (Docs, Sheets, Slides) are stored automatically as Office files (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx) when migrating to OneDrive or SharePoint; the files' version history is carried over as well.
The most common routes have their own guides: Google Drive to SharePoint/OneDrive, Dropbox to OneDrive and Nextcloud to Microsoft 365 (all German).
Preparation: mapping, clean-up, target libraries
In the discovery analysis our software records every source drive with file count, volume, folder depth and shares. From that comes the mapping: which drive goes to which target user, which shared folder into which SharePoint library or shared drive. A short clean-up on your side before the start pays off: orphaned shares of former employees, recycle bins, duplicates. What is not meant to move does not have to be migrated.
In the target we need licensed users with OneDrive or Google Drive enabled, or SharePoint sites and libraries already created; we take care of the creation on request. For S3 and WebDAV an access key or credentials with read permission are sufficient. Nothing is installed on devices; local sync clients are pointed at the new target only after the switch.
Switching over without duplicate work
The pre-migration copies the existing data while everyone keeps working in the old storage; the source is only read. On the cut-over date you set the source to read-only or tell the team that work now happens in the target; the delta sync transfers every file that was added or changed since the pre-migration. Unlike email, there is no MX record that enforces the switch technically; a clearly communicated date is all the more important. File timestamps are preserved as far as the target system allows. The phases in detail are on the process page.
Data protection for files: contents, shares, access keys
Files often contain the most sensitive content of a company: contracts, HR records, patient data, engineering drawings. Our software transfers them directly from the source via our servers in Germany and the EU into the target, without intermediate storage at a third party. Access keys for S3, app passwords for Nextcloud or OAuth grants for Google and Microsoft are kept encrypted in our key vault and revoked after completion. External sharing links are restored only if the target supports them and you want them; the move therefore creates no unintended external access. On request we sign a data processing agreement under Art. 28 GDPR; which data you may move to which cloud is a question for your data protection officer, not legal advice from us. General notes in the guide GDPR-compliant cloud migration (German).
Proof and price
After the migration our software checks every file against the source: count, size, path. Deviations are re-migrated or documented with the reason. You receive the final report, and beforehand the discovery report, the fixed-price quote and a test migration on two or three real drives. Pricing: €200 project fee plus €19 per user for personal files up to 50 GB; 30 users therefore cost €770 net. Larger volumes, shared folders and SharePoint libraries are quoted after the discovery analysis. In the price calculator cloud storage is preselected as the source; whether a service provider is worth it compared with doing it yourself is weighed up in the guide Migrate yourself or hire a provider? (German).
