Move your files from the University Google Drive

How to move your Google files from your University Google Drive to another location

1. Do your housekeeping

  • Remove any folders and files from Google Drive you don't need - all the destination services have a storage limit
  • Work out what information should go where. Not all the files you want to keep may be best located on one service
  • Note that any files you've shared will not be shared at the destination - you'll need to set that up again and the file will have a new link so you will need to update any documentation or websites where you have put the old link
  • Don't worry if you make a mistake and delete something you want to keep as you can easily get it back yourself within 30 days after deletion
Housekeeping instructions

2. Choose your new location

Services for University files
Note that this is not an option for alumni or ex-staff.
  • University OneDrive - A good idea for University work files, but do not use it for personal files as your files will be automatically deleted when your affiliation with the University ends. There is also a quota limit. Click here for more information
  • University Research DropBox - the University provides a Dropbox for active researchers and their research storage. The storage is available by request and is subject to validity checking. It is likely that in future a quota will be introduced. Click here to request this.

Services for personal files

All the cloud services listed have a free service with the ability to pay for additional storage if required. None of them are affiliated or supported by the University - this is your choice to make. Note that if you do require assistance transferring data, we can assist copying to OneDrive, DropBox, PCloud and Backblaze from this list. There are many other services available as well - not just the list below:

I want to move to a personal Google Drive and Photos account

This is the simplest migration from your University Google Drive. Beforehand you will need to setup a personal Google subscription (if you don’t have one already) https://one.google.com/about/plans. Google provides 15GB free account storage (including email). Other plans are available for you to personally purchase on an annual home subscription. 

Check that you have sufficient free space in the location you're copying your files to beforehand.

Note that if you have Photos and Google Drive contents to transfer then you will need to do both steps:

Instructions

I want to migrate my files to a different cloud service

Cloud services include OneDrive, DropBox and others. The best tool you use to migrate depends on how much you need to move, if you just want to move everything to a single new location or if you want more control.

I need to move my Google Photos

We strongly recommend moving Google Photos to a personal Google account - it is so much easier than moving to another service - you just follow these instructions.

If you still want to move to another service follow instructions for moving Google Photos using Google Takeout.

Moving files

I want to migrate my files to a drive attached to my computer

Note: For this option the University is unable to provide any more assistance than these instructions.

First, make sure you have sufficient space by checking the local drive and how much space you are using on your Google Drive

Here are four options:

Don't forget your Google backups

If you are currently using your University of Auckland account as your backup location for services like WhatsApp, an Android phone or other device, you must make sure that you re-configure your backup and complete a successful backup to your new storage location as soon as possible.

To change the backup location on an Android phone

To change the backup location on WhatsApp:

  1. Open WhatsApp
  2. Tap More options > Settings > Chats > Chat backup > Google Account
  3. Select the Google account you’d like to back up your chat history to

Note that Google does not allow the ability to migrate a backup to another service, or even to another Google account.

If you do not do this and need to restore your backup you will be unable to. The University of Auckland will also be unable to assist.

Related links