Transfer files from Google Drive to Dropbox

Server to server, without downloading anything to your computer.

How it works

Connect both accounts once. ShiftMyData then talks to Google Drive and Dropbox directly and streams the files between them in memory — nothing is written to our disks, and nothing travels down to your machine and back up again. The job runs on a worker, so closing the tab does not stop it.

Will every file be verified?

Google Drive offers MD5, SHA-1 and SHA-256 and Dropbox offers Dropbox content hash — no checksum in common. Files are compared on size and modification time instead, which is the same basis every other tool uses for this pair; nobody can do better, because the two providers do not share a hash to compare.

Before you start

The largest single file Dropbox accepts is 350 GB. A bigger one is reported as failed and the rest of the transfer carries on.
Google Drive treats Report.pdf and report.pdf as two files; Dropbox treats them as one. Where both exist in one folder, only one arrives, so rename one first.
Google Drive allows two files with exactly the same name in one folder, and Dropbox does not. Only one of each such pair is copied; rename duplicates before you start if you need both.
Google Docs, Sheets and Slides arrive as Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. Files shared with you and shared drives are separate roots in the explorer, not part of My Drive: copy them as well if you want them.
A transfer copies each file's current content, name and modification time; sharing and version history stay behind on Google Drive. Business migration carries them where both sides support them.

Sources: support.google.com · rclone.org · www.dropbox.com

Worth knowing about Google Drive

Google Docs, Sheets and Slides are not files in the ordinary sense -- they have no bytes to copy and no size until they are exported. ShiftMyData exports them to their Office equivalents on the way out; a native Doc cannot be preserved as a Doc anywhere except another Drive.

Worth knowing about Dropbox

Dropbox uses its own block-based content hash rather than a standard one, so a checksum comparison works Dropbox-to-Dropbox and not otherwise.

Steps

On the Clouds screen, add Google Drive: sign in with Google and allow access.
Add Dropbox the same way: sign in with Dropbox and allow access.
Pick the source folder in the left pane and the destination folder in the right.
Choose a mode — copy, mirror, move, or two-way — and start the transfer.
Leave it. Progress is on the Jobs screen, and a webhook can tell you when it ends.

Questions

Do I have to download my files from Google Drive first?

No. The transfer is streamed from Google Drive to Dropbox on our servers, so nothing is written to your machine and your home upload speed is not the limit.

What happens if I close my laptop?

The job keeps running. It is queued on a worker rather than in your browser, and the progress is there when you come back.

How do I know every file arrived?

Is there a size limit?

None imposed by us. What you move is drawn from your prepaid allowance (30 GB free, then 500 GB for ₹100 or 2,500 GB for ₹500, each valid a year). Dropbox takes single files up to 350 GB, and its own storage quota applies.

Move a folder now