Transfer OneDrive files to another OneDrive account
Personal to work, work to personal, or between two organisations: copy or move a OneDrive without downloading it, and with every file checked on arrival.
Why not download and re-upload
Downloading everything and uploading it again works for a few gigabytes. Past that it is limited by your home connection twice over, needs the disk space to hold it all in between, and stops whenever the laptop sleeps. A server-side transfer streams the files from one account to the other on our servers: nothing touches your machine, and the job keeps running after you close the tab.
The OneDrive sync app can only be signed in to one personal account at a time, which is why moving between two of them through the desktop is awkward even for small amounts.
Steps
- On the Clouds screen, add OneDrive and sign in with the account the files are in now.
- Add OneDrive again and sign in with the account they are going to.
- Pick the source folder on the left and the destination on the right, choose Copy or Move, and start.
What arrives, and what does not
- Both sides speak QuickXorHash, Microsoft's own checksum, so every file is verified byte for byte on arrival. This is one of the few pairs where that is possible.
- The largest single file either account accepts is 250 GB.
- Names and paths that were valid in one OneDrive are valid in the other, so nothing needs renaming.
- Sharing links and version history stay with the old account.
Questions
Does a work account need an administrator's approval?
Some organisations require an administrator to approve third-party apps before anyone can connect them. If yours does, Microsoft says so at sign-in, and an administrator approves it once for everyone.
Try it
Prepaid: 30 GB free, then 500 GB for ₹100 or 2,500 GB for ₹500, each valid a year. No card is asked for to start.