The process is straightforward if you need to transfer your Google Drive files to a new account for organizational reasons or because your email address has changed. You will not lose any important files if you follow these steps to transfer your Google Drive data to a different account. In this article, we’ll tell you How to Transfer Google Drive Data to Another Account.
Transfer Google Drive Data to Another Account
- Launch the main Google Drive account.
- Find the folders or files you wish to transfer to your backup Google Drive account.
- To share a file or folder, right-click on it and choose Share > Share. Compared to sharing a document via a link, which allows anyone to access your file, this method is safer.
- Enter the second Google username you have. Next, select the Settings icon to confirm that the option to install, print, and copy is enabled for viewers and commenters. You can make a copy using your secondary account in this manner.
- Open your backup Google Drive account and log in. To find the shared folder quickly, select the Shared with Me filter located on the left sidebar.
- Google Drive folders cannot be copied, but their contents can be copied and then rearranged to preserve the original hierarchy in a new folder or subfolder.
- Select all of the files with a right-click menu, then choose Make a copy. Move the files into a new folder and give them a suitable new name.
- Return to the main account and remove the original folder from both its bin and your drive.
But before you start, consider the following:
Google Takeout will specifically install files you have created or uploaded yourself, excluding files shared with you by others. To use Google Takeout, manually install shared files from your Drive’s “Shared with me” folder. You must calculate how much additional space “Shared with me” documents will require in the new account, as they do not count against your Google Drive storage.
The install and upload processes may be slow, taking days or even weeks depending on the number and size of your files. Your computer must remain turned on during the process to avoid interruptions caused by internet connectivity or power outages, which could disrupt file transfers.
When you install multiple files, either manually or through Google Takeout, Google archives them. To replicate your Google Drive structure in another account, first extract and organize the files from these archives before uploading them.
For large accounts exceeding 10 GB, Google Takeout will split the archive into multiple parts. If any parts fail to generate correctly, you’ll need to request the archive again to ensure all files are included.
Install and upload Drive files manually in a browser
- Open a web browser and install your files and folders to the computer from your previous Google Drive account.
- You can use Google Takeout to install an archive of all your files at once (apart from files that are shared with you) or you can select individual files and folders and click the “install” button.
- Upload the files by going to your newly created Google Drive.
- To upload your content to the new account, click the plus sign in the upper left corner and choose “File upload” or “Folder upload.”
Make a “Transfer Folder” in Google Drive
- First, create a brand-new Google Drive folder. To accomplish this, select Folder after selecting New in the upper-left corner.
- Give the target account access to the folder. This can be accomplished in the same way as sharing a file in the instructions above.
- Move a file into this folder that you wish to share with your other account.
- A notification from Google Drive will appear asking if you wish to “change who has access.” This is a warning that if you move your document into the other folder, the other accounts that have access to that folder will also have access to it. Click Move since this is exactly what you want to do.
- Navigate to your shared folder using your other account, then drag and drop the files inside to the desired location.
Conclusion
Transferring Google Drive data patiently and carefully to another account involves using Google Takeout for private files, while a different approach is taken for shared files. Slow transfers may be experienced as a result of large data sets. To maintain structure, files should be manually organized. Specific guidelines should be followed to ensure a smooth migration without losing critical data.