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Google Drive to Google Drive

File Migration Methodology

Transend offers two file migration options when migrating files between Google Drives in different tenants. The Move operation is usually preferred when data fidelity maintenance is of importance. The Copy operation is attractive when conversion of files to Microsoft format is inconsequential, pricing is an issue, or files must continue to remain in the source Drives post-migration.

Move operation

Files are moved, not copied from source to target drives. Because the Move operation is performed on the server side, full data fidelity is maintained upon migration. All Google proprietary file types are maintained, yielding the exact same data fidelity in the target as in the source. Files will no longer exist in the source Drives after migration and will instead only exist in their new target Drive. Folder and file permissions are maintained with select exceptions.

Copy operation

Replicas of source files are copied into the target Google Drive. Because no Google proprietary file type can exist outside of Google, files are converted into Microsoft formats upon migration, yielding loss of data fidelity. Source files will continue to exist in the source Drive after migration. Folder and file permissions are maintained with select exceptions.

View the primary differences between the Move and Copy operations.

Important Considerations

The following considerations are important to understand when migrating files between Google Drives:

  • There is a trade-off between document fidelity and permissions fidelity. Document fidelity is achieved using Move operation that renames an existing document. Due to the nature of the document remaining the same, some permissions are preserved that might be unexpected and/or unwanted. The maximum permissions fidelity is achieved by using the Copy operation.

  • Inherited permissions for Shared Drives are not currently preserved.

  • When performing a Move operation for either User or Shared Drives, all direct permissions are preserved. This means the target file can contain permissions referencing accounts in the source. This is preferred in most scenarios, except possibly for a divestiture, in which case the vestigial permissions from the source could provide unintended and continuing access to files.

  • When performing a Move operation, sharing links are preserved and continue to work for recipients of the link. Because the file and URL remain the same, nothing changes for recipients. With the Copy operation, sharing links will need to be sent out to users again because Google doesn’t know who the links have been sent to.