Why can't I move a folder from my private google drive, to my workspace google drive?

[contact]

Hi, I am trying to move  an entire folder (with lots of docs, sub-folders and other contents), from the Google Drive of my private Google account, to the Google Drive of my Workspace account. I own both accounts. But since they are not in the same "organization", Google Drive won't let me do it (via the option of sharing the folder with my Workspace email, and then transferring the ownership over the folder to my Workspace email ). You cannot transfer ownership between 2o domains. This is very frustrating, as I need this entire folder in my Workspace drive, and downloading it from one drive, and then uploading it to the other drive will take weeks!! (its a very big folder, with contents I have collected over 12 years!).

Is there any other way to do this? Or, simply, allow the option of transferring ownership over folders, or the folders themselves, between 2 domains that one person owns!

[cryptochrome]

Hi, unfortunately, taking over ownership of personal Google accounts' drive data is actually not possible. There is one workaround though: You can set up a Shared Drive on your Workspace account, and then invite your personal Google account as a member of that Drive. Then you can move files from the personal account to the Shared Drive. The final owner will then be the Shared Drive, not a person. 

To avoid having to upload everything, you could temporarily get an account from MultCloud (or similar tools). This will allow you to move your data from one cloud account to another without having to go through your local computer. 

[christiannewman]

There's a way to migrate the files smoothly, but only if you're willing to permanently give up the gmail.com email address.

If you still require the gmail.com email address, then you can follow the Shared Drive workaround suggested by @cryptochrome - recreating the gmail.com account's folder structure in a Shared Drive, then moving the files into the corresponding folder.

[cryptochrome]

I

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@christiannewman wrote:

There's a way to migrate the files smoothly, but only if you're willing to permanently give up the gmail.com email address.

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Interesting! How does that work?

[christiannewman]

1. Create an address map (or routing rule) on the Google Workspace domain for a non-existent address (e.g. gmail-migrate@domain.com), pointing to the Google Workspace admin's user account. Wait a few hours for the setting to propagate and test it before proceeding.

2. Delete the gmail service from the gmail.com account. It will force you to rename it to another email address you own. Use the email address mapped above (e.g. gmail-migrate@domain.com).

3. Sign into the Google Workspace admin's mailbox to find the verification email and complete the email verification process.

4. Wait several hours to a day, then open the Transfer Tool for Unmanaged Users to find the recently-renamed gmail.com account. Send an invitation to transfer the account to Google Workspace.

5. Sign into the Google Workspace admin's mailbox to find the invitation to transfer to Google Workspace. Right click on the button/link to complete the transfer, copy link, and open it in incognito (you'll be asked to sign into the recently-renamed gmail.com account). Complete the transfer.

6. gmail-migrate@domain.com will now be a user in Google Workspace. You can delete the user, and transfer its files to another Google Workspace user.

[cryptochrome]

This is so cool. Thanks for sharing! Is this a supported workflow, e. g. can I read up on this somewhere? 

Also, how do you delete the gmail service from a gmail.com account (step 2)?

Nvm... .found this: https://support.google.com/a/answer/6178640

[christiannewman]

It's a total hack.

Delete Gmail service

[egomotiv]

how do I even do step 1? Do I have to pay for another user called gmail-migrate so it has an email?

EDIT: I am now on step 4, waiting and hoping it will show up.

[contact]

Thank you all!

Yes, I have created a Shared Drive in my Workspace account, but Google won't let me move an entire folder into it (why Google??). The folder I need to move from my private gmail account to my Workspace account, is huge, with thousands of docs, images and videos, organized in many sub-folders. So that is the challenge... 

Do you know if MultCloud allows the easy moving of an entire folder? Or there as well you need to move one document/image/video at a time?

[christiannewman]

You have to recreate the folder structure on the destination shared drive, then move the files into that new folder structure. One can only move files, not folders, to shared drives. 

Non-Google tools will only copy (not move) files - meaning sharing permissions will be reset, file IDs/links will change, and all meta data (version history, comments, etc) will be lost. 

[contact]

Gotcha, thanks a lot!

[christiannewman]

Happy to help! Good luck. 

[cryptochrome]

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@contact wrote:

Do you know if MultCloud allows the easy moving of an entire folder? Or there as well you need to move one document/image/video at a time?

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Yes, MultCloud will be exactly what you need. It's super easy, and you can move everything at once. All folders in one go. Just select them all, click move, select destination, and it will start chugging away in the background for you. It doesn't get more simple than that. From my experience, it's also super reliable, I never had any issues with it. 

You can buy it for just one month, no long-term commitment is needed. Pay one month, move your data, cancel the service, the end 🙂

[contact]

Awesome, thanks so much!

[myroutes3]

If you follow the cross-domain file transfer via Shared Drive suggested by @christiannewman, you can use the Transfer Files Ownership add-on for Google Drive or the webapp to recreate your folder structure on the destination shared drive: this operation is free.