How to Transfer Your Google Drive to Another Account

Have you accumulated years of important files stored securely in Google Drive – documents, photos, videos, and more? Do you now need to migrate them somewhere else for additional storage or privacy? If so, you’ve come to the right place.

Transferring contents from one Google account to another is a common task for a variety of reasons:

Consolidating shared team drives under a single owner
Shifting documents from a work account to a personal one
Freeing up storage space in a nearly full Drive
Gaining more control over sensitive data
And more…

Whatever the case, I’ll show you several straightforward methods to get your files from point A to point B. Just follow along below!

When Would You Want to Transfer Google Drive Contents?

Before digging into the step-by-step guides, it helps to broadly understand a few popular use cases:

Leaving a Google Workspace Team Drive

If you’re an editor on a shared team Drive administered through Google Workspace (formerly G Suite), you may have contributed documents over time. But now you’re changing teams or leaving the company. How do you take your files with you? Drive transfer can selectively copy docs without disruption.

Linking a Brand Account Drive

Creators manage YouTube channels, blogs, websites and more under a common Google brand account. Consolidating those projects’ file libraries into a single content hub Drive makes them easier to organize.

Gaining Ownership Over Shared Files

You might collaborate with colleagues by sharing back and forth as Drive editors. Eventually though, those files become integral components needing full ownership within your personal storage.

Reclaiming Space in a Near-Capacity Account

When your Drive fills up all available storage, there’s no room left for new content. Migrating subsets of files to another account with open capacity resolves the crunch.

In all these cases, transferring relief is just a few clicks away…

Overview of Transfer Methods

There are a handful of standard techniques to move Google Drive folders and documents from one account to another:

Method	Overview	Use Cases
Native Sharing	Leverages built-in file sharing to transfer ownership	Small transfers; maintaining access history
Download & Upload	Downloads files locally then uploads to new location	Total account migrations; minimal steps
Google Takeout	Exports complete archives from Google services	Total account migrations; granular control
3rd Party Apps	Uses external tools designed for cloud migration	Total account migrations; excellent automation

I’ll explore each method extensively below, outlining the step-by-step process with visual examples. By the end, you’ll know which option best fits your personal Google Drive transfer needs.

First up…

Method #1: Native Google Drive Sharing

The simplest way to send files from your personal Google Drive to another is by using native sharing capabilities. Here’s an outline of the workflow:

Share items from original Drive to provide new account access
Change permission level to Editor so files can be modified
Initiate ownership transfer to recipient account
New owner accepts shared items
Remove original account’s access to relinquish control

This technique is fast and straightforward. But it’s best suited for small, one-time transfers rather than migrating your entire Drive. Let’s examine how it works:

Step 1: Select Files to Transfer

On the Google Drive web interface, browse and click to choose the specific folders or documents you want to transfer ownership of:

Step 2: Open “Share” Dialog

Right click anywhere in the file list and select Share:

Step 3: Enter Destination Email Address

In the sharing popup, type the new owner’s Google account email address:

Step 4: Set Permission to Editor

Click the permission dropdown and choose Editor so they can access and edit:

Step 5: Send Initial Access

Click Send to share the selected folders with them:

At this point, the new account can view, edit, reorganize or modify content. But they don’t have full ownership yet…

Step 6: Transfer Ownership

With items still selected, open Share again and pick Transfer ownership for the account:

Step 7: Confirm Ownership Transfer

They’ll receive an email allowing them to confirm and assume ownership.

Step 8: Revoke Original Access

Finally, update the original account’s access to Remove so they don’t retain editing rights. The transfer is complete!

By directly sharing folders between accounts and changing access levels, you can selectively migrate content ownership while maintaining historical visibility.

But this works best in smaller doses. For heavy lifting, read on…

Method #2: Download and Re-Upload Content

If you need to migrate entire subsets or all Google Drive contents from one account to another, downloading and re-uploading is relatively quick.

Here are the summarized steps:

Download account contents to local computer
Compressed into .ZIP file for easy portability
Log into new Google Drive account
Upload saved .ZIP files into new location
Extract archives to populate folder structure

Because this method transfers accounts using your own computer as an intermediary staging point, you avoid complicated changes in account access and ownership.

Let’s examine the specifics…

Step 1: Select Files to Download

On Google Drive web interface, click to choose the files and folders you want to migrate:

Step 2: Download Archive

Right-click selected items and pick Download. This compresses selections into a .ZIP archive on your downloads folder:

Leave browser open during download.

Step 3: Log In to New Account

Open a new browser window and log in to the Google account receiving the transfers at drive.google.com:

Step 4: Upload the .ZIP File

In the new Drive window, click Upload files > Select files, then choose the .ZIP from downloads:

Step 5: Extract Transferred Data

Once uploads complete, right-click the .ZIP and pick Extract All to populate folders:

Now everything lives natively in the new Google Drive!

This download and re-upload method provides a simple facilitated migration without fussing with account permissions. When you need to transfer lots of data fast between Drives, it‘s a handy approach.

Moving on…

Method #3: Using Google Takeout for Exporting

Google Takeout is an official self-service tool ideal for archiving, downloading and exporting full account data to relocate elsewhere. You can even drill specifically into apps like Google Drive for fine-tuned control.

The basic process looks like:

Visit takeout.google.com and sign in to account
Select Google Drive app data to include
Choose specific subfolders if not migrating everything
Export selections into downloadable archives
Copy archives into new Google Drive location

I‘ll walk through it below:

Step 1: Visit Google Takeout

Go to takeout.google.com and sign in with account credentials:

Step 2: Select Google Drive

Click the dropdown next to Drive and ensure there‘s a checkmark to include it:

Step 3: Choose Specific Folders (Optional)

If not transferring the entire account, click Deselect all first, then choose individual subfolders.

Step 4: Click Export

Scroll down and click Next step. Choose delivery preferences and hit Create export.

Step 5: Wait for Processing

Google now prepares your export! The length varies based on size. Eventually you‘ll receive an email notification.

Step 6: Download Archive

Return to takeout.google.com where you can download a .ZIP archive containing everything selected.

Step 7: Upload Archive to New Drive

Finally, just as in the previous method, upload the exported .ZIP into your new Google Drive account via the web interface and extract it to complete the migration!

Google Takeout is the best way to seamlessly transition entire accounts with accuracy. Automating makes everything less hands-on.

Let‘s check out a final alternative with even more convenience baked in…

Method #4: Third-Party Migration Services

Instead of tackling Google Drive content transfers through manual sharing, downloading or Takeout exporting, specialized software tools exist to automate the workload.

Popular options like:

MultCloud – Facilitates syncing, backups and migrations between cloud drives.
Mover.io – Automatically handles account transitions with scheduling.
Cloudsfer – Enables high-volume server-based data portability.

And many others simplify moving your stuff virtually effortlessly.

For example, let‘s see MultCloud in action…

Step 1: Create Free Account

Visit multcloud.com, register for an account:

Step 2: Connect Google Drives

On the dashboard, click Add Cloud Drive > Google Drive and sign in to allow access:

Repeat for secondary account.

Step 3: Select Transfer Source

Navigate the origin account files and check items to migrate:

Step 4: Set Destination and Transfer

At top menu click Copy To then choose new connected Drive account. Hit OK!

Step 5: Let It Run!

Now MultCloud handles everything automatically behind the scenes. All while you relax!

See? Utilizing specialized software removes the heavy lifting so transfers execute almost automatically.

Final Thoughts on Transferring Google Drive

As you‘ve now learned, whether you need to:

Quickly send a couple files
Back up an entire account
Consolidate drives
Retrieve shared content

There is a straightforward process to get your Google Drive from point A to B efficiently.

Now that you understand the various methods for shifting ownership and locations, think about your use case and volume needs. Then follow the associated steps to smoothly transition your personal data from one home to another!

Up Next

Some related articles to continue expanding your Google Drive mastery:

I‘m confident the knowledge you‘ve gained here today will prove invaluable in securely managing your online footprint across accounts. Let me know if any other questions come up!