Personal Drive-account consolidation
First decide whether you need a separate copy or a new owner for the original files. Sharing a folder—or adding its shortcut to another Drive—is not the same as creating an independent copy.
This guide focuses on personal Google accounts and files you are allowed to copy or transfer. Work/school administration is a different workflow. CloudMove public transfers and checkout are not available.
Keep separate files
Share the needed files with the destination account, then use Make a copy there when permitted. Check the resulting copies and their owner in the destination account.
Google's web instructions support copying files, not an entire folder tree. Recreate the folder structure as needed. Do not assume old links, sharing settings or history follow the copy.
Read the copy steps ↓Change the original's owner
If you own the item and the accounts are eligible, share it with the destination account and send an ownership transfer request. For a personal-account transfer, the recipient must accept.
This changes the original; it is not a backup copy. Folder and child-file ownership must be handled separately.
Check the ownership rules ↓Export and re-upload
Download files you are allowed to export, or review Google Takeout for a larger archive, then upload the extracted content to the destination Drive.
This uses local storage and bandwidth. Native Google documents may be exported to other formats; check the export choices and results rather than assuming identical native files and history.
Review the trade-offs ↓Use this when you need destination-owned copies, not just continued access to the source. Start with a small set of files and check the result before scaling up.
Check source ownership and permissions, destination storage, and the intended account emails. If a file cannot be copied or downloaded under its current permissions, stop and ask the owner; do not bypass the restriction.
Use Drive's sharing controls for the appropriate account and access. Sharing gives access to the originals; it does not, by itself, create destination-owned copies.
Confirm the destination account in the browser. For a file you are permitted to copy, right-click and choose Make a copy. Google documents file copying in the web interface. Folder shortcuts are not a substitute for this step.
Put the copies into the intended destination folders. Google's web copy instructions do not clone folders, so account for nested structures separately. Check the owner of representative copies, open important documents, and review destination sharing.
A copy has its own identity. Do not expect existing links to the source files to redirect to the new copies. Check collaborator access and any document links that still reference the source.
If the goal is to change who owns an eligible original, first share it with the intended recipient. In its sharing settings, use the recipient's role menu to request Transfer ownership. Follow Google's current personal-account acceptance steps.
Google explicitly says that files inside a transferred folder keep their original owners. Inspect the contents and their ownership separately. A new owner on the top-level folder is not evidence that an entire account has moved.
Google describes a shortcut as a link to another file or folder. It can break when the original is deleted or you lose access. A folder appearing in the destination Drive through a shortcut is not an independent migration or backup. Read Google's shortcut rules.
If individual web copies are impractical, review the Google data-export options. Keep the original files while creating and downloading the archive. Extract it locally, inspect its structure, then upload the intended content into a new destination folder using Google Drive's upload controls.
Archive export and re-upload is not a full account clone. Check native-document export formats, destination file types, folder structure and upload errors. Do not assume comments, history, permissions or old links will be reproduced. Account or owner policies can also limit export.
CloudMove availability
Public transfers, automated folder-copy verification and checkout are not available in CloudMove. This page does not ask you to connect accounts, share passwords or pay for a move.
Use the provider methods above for your situation. No transfer capacity, completion time, pricing or perfect-fidelity guarantee is being offered.
Eligible ownership transfers and permitted web file copies do not require downloading file bytes to your laptop. They are different operations with account and folder limits. Some third-party services offer hosted copies; review the service's exact support and consent scopes. CloudMove does not currently offer a public transfer flow.
Google's web instructions say you can copy files, not folders. Creating a folder shortcut does not copy its contents. Plan the structure separately or evaluate another legitimate method, then verify the result.
No. Google says the files inside keep their original owners. Review and handle eligible child files separately.
No. Managed accounts have organizational ownership/export rules and may require an administrator. This guide focuses on personal accounts and does not bypass those restrictions.
Do not assume so. Copies have their own identity, while download/export can change formats. Review links, permissions, native-document behavior and history for the particular method before relying on the destination.
Guidance reviewed October 15, 2026. Provider interfaces and rules can change; check the linked help before a large move.