Overcome Challenges When Migrating Google Drive to OneDrive

Every business migration involves several challenges. And for businesses planning to transfer Google Drive to OneDrive, these are the challenges that are important to deal with:

You can also learn about these challenges in our Google Drive to OneDrive migration guide.

1. Special Characters Unsupported in Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365 doesn’t support these characters in files and folder names: ” * : < > ? / \ |. Files and folders in Google Drive that include these characters in their names can conflict when migrated to OneDrive. Our platform’s built-in feature automatically replaces these unsupported characters with a hyphen (-) or an underscore (_).

According to January 2025 Microsoft update, invalid characters are now supported on OneDrive for MacOS. Allowed invalid characters includes “*:<>?/\| characters. You’ll need to rename other disallowed characters in filenames even if you are using MacOS.

2. Specific File/Folder Names Unsupported in Microsoft 365

Businesses planning to transfer Google Drive to OneDrive for Business also need to ensure that there are no Google Drive files and folders with certain names that aren’t supported in Microsoft 365.

These names include:

With the above file names, any filename starting with ~$ is not allowed in OneDrive.

3. Migrating comments

Like many businesses, your company may face technical challenges to transfer comments when migrating Google Drive files to OneDrive, especially during bulk migration.

Since Google Drive and OneDrive are distinct proprietary platforms, their technologies, and features differ. This is why it’s best to migrate comments via CSV files.

4. 400 Characters Path Length Limit in Microsoft 365

Whether migrating Google Drive to SharePoint Online or OneDrive, or both, file/folder paths cannot have more than 400 characters.

Our advanced migration tool intelligently trims long Google Drive file/folder paths into 350 characters, creates a folder called “LongFileName,” and dumps the remaining data into it. 

5. Transfer Rate Throttling Set either by Microsoft or Google

Cloud service providers such as Microsoft and Google can set transfer rate throttling if more data is migrated in a particular time frame than allowed.

In such scenarios, CloudFuze’s re-try mechanism initiates the migration of data that is shelved due to transfer rate throttling. The automated design of the re-try mechanism speeds up clearing the backlogs.

6. Migrating Same User Accounts To Different SharePoint Sites

Migrating Google Drive to SharePoint Online isn’t the same as migrating Google Drive to OneDrive. Many companies can find it challenging to migrate the same user accounts to different Sites in SharePoint Online.

One simple way to do this is to map the user email IDs and paths in a CSV file.

7. Migrating Different User Accounts To Same SharePoint Sites

To rearrange data more properly in SharePoint Online and OneDrive, your company may plan to migrate different user accounts to the same SharePoint Site.

To do this, map different user email IDs with the same folder path in the destination cloud.

8. Complying With Data Regulation Laws

Every business needs to comply with the data regulation laws of the country they are based out of when planning to migrate Google Drive to OneDrive and SharePoint Online.

For example, if your company is based in the UK or EU, it’s a must to comply with GDPR and other data protection laws. With CloudFuze, you get the flexibility to choose a GDPR-compliant migration instances that are hosted either in the UK or EU.

9. Company Data Too Sensitive To Be Migrated in a Standard Server

Companies based in data-critical industries such as healthcare, government, technology, hospitality, education, e-commerce, and other industries need to protect data at all costs during every step of the migration.

To do this, it’s best to transfer Google Drive to OneDrive locally and prevent any data from going out into shared or public networks. You can deploy CloudFuze as a standalone program and run it into your data center to ensure optimum data protection. Learn more from our migration team.

10. Rationalizing Data Migrated to Microsoft 365

In many companies, end-users (employees) often find it challenging or cumbersome to efficiently adapt to the new working environment in the destination cloud, which, in this case, is OneDrive and SharePoint Online.

One of the best ways to rationalize data migrated to Microsoft 365 is to update all the incremental changes made during the migration via delta migration. Looking back at the migration reports is another good option.

Our migration team can perform multiple delta migrations on your request and offer you a tailored price quote.

Why Manual Approach Falls Short When Migrating Google Drive to OneDrive?

As part of the manual approach, you can transfer files from Google Drive to OneDrive by downloading all your data from Google Drive to your local computer, then uploading everything to OneDrive. But you are likely to follow these challenges when you go for a manual approach:

• Time Taking Process: If your file library is of high volume, you will have to sit for long hours attending to your computer. Depending on your internet speed and data volume, downloads and uploads can take hours or even days.
• Bandwidth Constraints: If you’re sharing the internet with a team, you can face slower transfer.
• Preservation of Folder Structures: Deeply nested folders can be challenging to transfer.
• Path Length Limitations: OneDrive imposes limits on how long a folder/file path can be. If you surpass this character count, those Google Drive files won’t transfer.

Practical Tips for a Smooth Transfer

Discussed here are few practical tips to ensure a smooth transfer when migrating Google Drive to OneDrive:

• Take backup of your Google Drive data prior to proceeding with migration
• Choose an advanced enterprise-grade migration tool for your transfer.
• Ensure to check if hyperlinks are intact post-migration.
• Perform delta migration to transfer incremental changes.

Here’s an overview of our tool performing Google Drive to OneDrive migration:

CloudFuze Case Study – Migrating from Google Drive to OneDrive and SharePoint

Barrow County School System wanted to migrate over 12,000 staff and student accounts within a limited time. We helped them transfer over 50 TB of data from Google Drive and Google Shared Drives to OneDrive and SharePoint Online.

Along with migrating folder/file structures, we helped them transfer metadata such as permissions, file versions, external shares, and shared links. To learn more about the case study, click here.

Tackle Challenges of Migrating from Google Drive to OneDrive with CloudFuze

At CloudFuze, we have helped many enterprises overcome the challenges of migrating from Google Drive to OneDrive. Ensure complete replication using our Office 365 migration tool.

Contact us for your Office 365 migration today!

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How do I transfer files from Google Drive to Microsoft OneDrive?

The best way to transfer files from Google Drive to OneDrive is by choosing a reliable Microsoft 365 migration tool. CloudFuze Migrate is one of the best tools to migrate from Google Drive to Microsoft OneDrive with accuracy.

2. Is Google Drive or OneDrive better?

Both Google Drive and OneDrive provide companies with a lot of notable features. Both platforms are best, and you can choose the suitable one for your firm according to business requirements. Check out Google Drive vs OneDrive comparison for more details.

3. How do I transfer files from Google Drive to OneDrive without downloading?

With our industry-leading migration tool, you can transfer files from Google Drive to OneDrive without having to download allof your Google Drive files. Our enterprise-grade cloud migration tool helps you seamlessly move your files to OneDrive along with metadata such as timestamps, permissions etc.