Are you storing files on different cloud solutions? Unifying them all on Google Drive can help your organization reduce its technology spend and have everything in one centralized location. With the rise of AI, online storage services are tightening up their usage allowances, and you may find that you’re paying more for them over time. With Google Workspace, you have a significant amount of storage for your business that won’t change its price from month to month.
Moving your files to Drive is made possible by Google’s New Data Migration tool, which doesn’t have to be used for “new” data. While it has been able to handle data from other services for some time, Google recently added Dropbox to the list.
Before the Dropbox addition, the tool was generally considered to just be used for organizations which were migrating from Microsoft 365 to Google Workspace, since the only other services it handles are OneDrive and Sharepoint. With Dropbox being added to the mix, Google may be signalling that other online file storage services will be on the menu.
Why Storing Files With Different Services is a Bad Practice
There are many reasons that storing files with different online services isn’t a best practice. It makes it harder to get a handle on sensitive company information, opening up various vectors for information to leak. Most importantly, it makes key company data hard to find. Google Drive gives your staff access to the files they need in seconds with a simple search rather than digging through a complex directory structure - but first the files need to be on Google Drive, and not on another service.
Sometimes, storing files with a separate service is done as a perceived security measure for sensitive information. With Google Drive, files can be stored in shared drives with varying levels of security, with the ability to section off an entire shared drive to particular users. This means that someone doing a search for a staff member’s name isn’t going to find their HR files; only key HR personnel and managers will have access to that data. There is no way to get into these files without the proper account credentials.
It can also be a question of preference. Some staff may want to store files on Dropbox because they perceive it as easier to share files from. Sharing files on Google Drive with outside users is actually simpler than it is with Dropbox or other file storage services. Just share the folder with the client’s email, and as long as your organization’s security policies allow it, they just need to click the link to see the file or folder.
How to Use the New Data Migration Tool
You can use the New Data Migration Tool to migrate files from OneDrive, Sharepoint, and Dropbox. There are detailed instructions broken down by service here. You must have Super Admin status at your organization to do it.
Once the migration is complete, the same folder structure should be preserved in Google Drive. However, you’ll want to go back and check that files were migrated successfully before closing your accounts with other services.
You’ll also want to share the folders with the appropriate people, and you may want to consider putting them in Shared Drives for the departments/purposes that they are meant for rather than leaving them as orphaned folders in your Google Drive’s root directory.
If you are looking at moving to Google Workspace, or you have a large amount of files out there on other services that you need transferred, contact us for help. We are experts at managing successful migrations of files, email, and anything else you need for your business.
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