I'm in the process of migrating our hybrid-joined devices to be fully Intune-based, and we aim to eliminate our on-premises Active Directory. Currently, we use a Distributed File System (DFS) server for shared drives, and I'm searching for the best ways to transition this setup to a cloud environment, either SharePoint or Azure Files. The main challenge is achieving this migration with minimal downtime while ensuring that users still have a mapped drive in their File Explorer. We've tried SharePoint, but the drive mapping has been inconsistent—sometimes it takes days for the mapped drives to appear after a forced check-in, and I'm looking for guidance on best practices for this kind of migration. It seems like general advice is limited to 'look into SharePoint or Azure Files' without much detail.
4 Answers
Switching to Azure Files could be a better 1:1 approach for your needs compared to SharePoint, which requires significant changes in how your team handles shared files. If drive mapping is a big concern, it’s worth evaluating how well Azure Files syncs up. In my experience, SharePoint can be tough with mapped drives, while Azure Files might offer a smoother experience.
I agree, Azure Files seems to be less of a hassle for mapped drives than SharePoint. Definitely keeping that option open.
We found success using azcopy to move our data into Azure Files—it really speeds things up! If you want an easier method for data transfer, check out Azure Storage Mover, which simplifies the process even further.
That's a good point! Azure Storage Mover is definitely worth considering—it's user-friendly and cuts down on manual work.
Mapping drives to SharePoint isn’t great—you might want to avoid that unless you use third-party tools like ZeeDrive. Instead, consider using a PowerShell script for drive mapping via Intune. It’s an effective workaround! Also, for migrating data, both Azure Files and SharePoint Migration tool work well, but if you have a lot of data, third-party tools might be worth the investment.
This is solid advice! I've had issues with SharePoint sync myself, so looking into that PowerShell option sounds promising for our team.
Great tips! I’m also interested in how to use OneDrive shortcuts effectively instead of traditional drive mapping.
Rather than relying on mapped drives for SharePoint, it's better to change your workflow. We initially went that route but it turned into a one-way sync mess with OneDrive. You can use SharePoint’s built-in migration tools to move your files while restructuring who has access—this avoided a lot of headaches for us when we transitioned away from local permissions.
That makes sense! We have users who heavily depend on specific file paths, which complicates things for migrating away from mapped drives. I'll need to prepare them for a shift to using Office apps directly instead.
I feel you on that! People get really attached to their methods, especially with Explorer, but it sounds like a shift is necessary for full cloud benefits.
That’s useful info! I’m curious too about the syncing process with Azure Files compared to SharePoint, especially for users who struggle with file access changes.