Move to a Personal Google Drive

How to move your files from your University Google Drive to a personal Google Drive

IMPORTANT:

Google Transfer will transfer ALL your files - it doesn't give you the option of choosing specific folders. If you need to choose what is copied then we recommend MultCloud. Click here for instructions on MultCloud.

It is critical that you use two separate browsers - don't just use a tab otherwise you will get the message "Transfer your Content is only available to authorized G Suite for Education Accounts."

1. Setup a personal Google Subscription

  1. Just login to your personal Google account
  2. Go to https://one.google.com/about/plans
  3. Choose the plan and click Get started
  4. Put your credit card details in or it will use a stored card from your Google account

Watch the instructional video

2. Copy Shared files

The main area where Google Transfer has issues is related to files shared with you. A file that has been shared with you is just a link to the file in the owner's Google Drive. For the transfer to work you need to copy files from Shared with Me to your drive then remove them from Shared with Me once this has been completed. Note that this doesn't delete the original file or do anything to the file on the owner's drive - it just removes your link to the file.
  1. Go to Shared with Me
  2. Create a new folder in your My Drive
  3. Copy the files from Shared with Me to the new folder
  4.  Select all the files in Shared with Me and right click then Remove

3. Run Google Transfer

Important

Google Transfer doesn't transfer any files in Google Photos. If you want to transfer photos you will also need to follow the instructions to transfer Google Photos.

  1. Open a private or incognito window in a web browser - this is critical. In most browsers except Firefox you can press CTRL+SHIFT+N together (COMMAND+SHIFT+N on a Mac)
  2. Login to your Google Drive with your University details
  3. Go to Google Transfer
  4. Enter the destination personal google account email address and click Send code
  5. Open a different browser entirely and run another incognito window (that is absolutely critical!) and use it to check your personal Gmail for the Verifying your account email. Click on Get confirmation code
  6. Select the code and press CTRL +C to copy it, or write the code down
  7. Go back to your Google Transfer browser, enter the code and click Verify
  8. Select Drive to transfer using the sliders and then click Start Transfer
  9. Your files will be transferred in the background by Google over the next week. You can shutdown your computer and any application in the meantime – the transfer is not dependent on your computer now
  10. You will receive an email when the copy has completed

4. Check the copied files

Where to find your files

All content will be copied into a folder labelled with your University account name and the date you initiated the copy process.

What WILL be Transferred

  • Files in Folders in Google Drive that are OWNED by you
  • Shared files where you are an owner or editor or you have copied to your My Drive in Step 2 above

What will NOT Transfer

  • Images stored under “Google Photos”
  • Shared files where you are only a Viewer or the owner has turned off downloads and copies
  • Google Sites, Google Forms, Google MyMaps & other third- party content in Drive

5. Delete the old files

Google Transfer copies your files - it doesn't move them. Once you have checked and are happy that you have all the files you need please remove the originals from your University Google Drive.

To remove files and folders

  1. Highlight the file or folder
  2. Right-click and select Remove
  3. Click Move to bin

I get an email "Problem with you Google content transfer"

Sometimes Google cannot transfer all the files and you will get an email similar to the one below:

_____________________________________________

Problem with your Google content transfer

There was a problem with the Google content transfer that you
started on 13 Jun 2022, and it didn’t finish. Try starting a new transfer, or
talk to your admin. Find out more

Some files couldn’t be copied or transferred. A list of these
files is attached. Learn more

  • null (null)
  • null (null)
  • null (null)

_____________________________________________

What does this mean and what do I do?

Each null line indicates a file that it has been unable to copy. To find out what files didn't copy, click History then Files not transferred. You can search and individually download files you still want.

I get the error message "Transfer your Content is only available to authorized G Suite for Education Accounts..."

This is caused by just using two tabs in the same browser - you must use two different browsers, one logged into the University Google account and the second browser logged in to your personal Gmail account. You could use Chrome for one and then Firefox, Edge or Safari for the other one - they just need to be different applications.

I’ve accidentally deleted folders from Google Drive, how do I get them back?

  1. Go to Bin on the left-hand side
  2. Highlight the folder or file to restore, Right-click
    and select Restore

How do I find out more about Google Transfer?

Check out Copy content from your school account to another account.

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