Change cloud storage service? Here’s what you need to do

You don’t have to stick with a cloud storage service if your needs change. Maybe you were paying a subscription for more storage, the provider increased the price, and you want to find cheaper alternatives. You may have moved from a Samsung phone or Windows PC to an iPhone or Mac computer and want to use iCloud because it’s deeply integrated into iOS and macOS.

You may also have just noticed that the other cloud storage service has better features than the one you are currently using. To change cloud storage services, you need to assess your storage needs, download files and folders from the old cloud storage, and then upload them to the new one. For the second step, you may want to consider getting an external drive so you can use the 3-2-1-1-0 rule for data backups.

Once you have transferred everything you need, don’t forget to erase all files from the cloud service. Unless you’re doing this as part of a multi-cloud setup, you don’t want files hanging around on a cloud service that you no longer plan to use. But don’t delete them right after moving the data. Take a few days to verify that you really moved everything. If you can, test some files and see if they work as expected to make sure there is no corruption (it’s not practical to test everything if you have too many files).

Ensuring your next cloud storage service can hold all the data you want to transfer is an obvious, but still vital, step. If you plan to stick with the free plans, you’ll find that most cloud storage services offer a good amount of free space for light use (a few documents, photos, and small backups). For example, you get 15GB free when using Google Drive (it’s shared with Gmail and Google Photos, though), while on iCloud or OneDrive you get 5GB. Dropbox is even less so, with 2GB for its free plan. If you use Google Drive a lot, you may not be able to transfer everything if the other service’s free plan has less storage space. You may need to upgrade to a paid plan.

You should also check whether paid plans are affordable before moving. The good news is that getting more storage on cloud services isn’t that expensive if you have terabytes of data.

For example, iCloud starts at $0.99 per month for 50 GB, while Google Drive and OneDrive start at $1.99 per month for 100 GB. Dropbox, on the other hand, starts at $11.99 when billed monthly for 2 TB of space, which can be excessive if you don’t perform daily backups of multiple devices. Once you’ve made sure you have the appropriate amount of storage space, it’s time to start moving files.

Downloading files locally from cloud storage consumes additional bandwidth, but it is a necessary staging area, assuming of course that you don’t already have copies on your local storage somewhere. If you only want to transfer specific items, you can download them one by one. For example, in Google Drive, click My Drive in the left menu, hold Ctrl in Windows or Command in Mac, select the items you want, and click Upload. In OneDrive, select My Files from the left menu, check the box next to the item, then click Upload. If you want to transfer everything, you can simply select everything and then download it. In Google Drive, press Ctrl + A on Windows or Command + A on Mac in My Files. For Google Drive users, there is also Google Takeout. Here’s how to use it:

1. On Google Takeout, sign in to your Google account.

2. Click Deselect All in the Create New Export section.

3. Check Drive.

4. Click Next Step > Create Export.

5. You will receive an email once your export is ready.

On OneDrive, for example, check the main box next to the Name column to select all, uncheck Personal Vault (otherwise you won’t see the Upload option), then click Upload from the top menu. This can take a long time, so if the download is unusually slow, there are things you can do to improve Wi-Fi speed. Except for Google Takeout, the steps for other cloud storage services should be similar to those for Google Drive and OneDrive.

Now that everything important is exported, you can start moving files to the new cloud service. By now, you’ve ideally created an account and paid for a subscription if you need additional storage. All you have to do is open the personal folder.

For example, these are My Drive in Google Drive, My Files in OneDrive, and All Files in Dropbox. Next, go to the folder where you downloaded the files on your computer, select everything with Ctrl + A on Windows or Command + A on a Mac, then drag it into the browser so you can download it to the starting folder.

This is the quickest and easiest way to do it, but you can also upload the files using the cloud service’s menus if you want a little precision. For example, if you are uploading to Google Drive, click New > File Upload, select the folder and click Upload. In OneDrive, you have the ability to import files directly from clouds like Google Drive and Dropbox. Simply go to Settings > Upload photos and cloud files, click the plus sign next to Connect to Google Drive or Connect to Dropbox and follow the instructions. You will then find the files in Files > Imports. In Dropbox, click Upload (look under the search bar) and select File, Folder, Import from Google Drive, or Import from Microsoft OneDrive. Then follow the instructions to import your files.

You can also use a cloud transfer tool to transfer files from one service to another. The one you can try is Air Explorer. Although there is a Pro version, the free version still allows unlimited file transfers, but you can only link a maximum of two cloud services at a time. To transfer files from one cloud service to another in Air Explorer, follow the steps below:

1. Outdoor explorer.

2. Select the Accounts tab.

3. In the left panel, click Add Account.

4. Select your old cloud service you want to connect to.

5. Follow the steps to log in.

6. Repeat steps two and three in the right panel to connect the new cloud service.

7. Select the Explore tab. You will see two panels with the list of cloud services you have connected.

8. In the left panel, select the cloud service you are switching from.

9. In the right panel, select the cloud service you are switching to.

10. Select the files or folders you want to transfer in the left panel.

11. Drag and drop them into the right panel.