I'm looking for a practical way to transfer around 800GB of data from Microsoft OneDrive to Google Drive, but I want to avoid doing it through my personal computer. Keeping my PC running for days to download and upload everything isn't feasible. I'm considering renting a virtual machine from a cloud provider like Microsoft Azure to act as an intermediary for the transfer. Would this be a good idea? I'm especially interested in knowing which provider would be best, the most effective tools for the task (like rclone or cloud sync services), and if there are any potential costs or bandwidth issues I should be aware of.
5 Answers
A small VM sounds like the way to go here. You can spin it up to do the transfer and then discard it to keep costs down. Definitely worthwhile!
If you're comfortable with Azure, that could work well for your needs! I did something similar last month—moved 2TB from Google Drive to my on-prem server, then backed it up to Backblaze using a tool called rclone. It supports a wide range of storage services and worked pretty well for me. Just a heads-up, though: both OneDrive and Google Drive can throttle speeds, so if you have a good internet connection, the time difference might not be significant compared to using your own PC. Expect to spend around 8-12 hours for 2TB if your connection is solid. Also, watch out for egress charges if you go with a cloud VM!
How did you handle the egress charges? I’m worried about unexpected costs.
Using Azure for this transfer is a solid choice! You can log into OneDrive, sync to a drive in the VM, and then upload to Google Drive. Check out this video for more: [YouTube Link] — it gives a great walkthrough of using RClone on Azure. It might take a bit to set up, but once you get the hang of it, it should be smooth sailing!
Thanks for the link! I’m definitely giving this a try.
I went with a cheap VPS from Interserver for a similar task. It was affordable and did the job well. You might want to check it out if you're looking for budget options!
What plan did you pick? I want to know how much it cost in total!
I've found that using Rclone on a low-cost cloud VM actually gives you the best control and value. Providers like Hetzner, Contabo, or even DigitalOcean have plans that range from €5-€10, which is super affordable. Plus, you can run it 24/7 without involving your PC. You can set it up for server-side transfers, which means everything is done in the cloud without pulling it down to your PC first. You just need an international credit card for signup, but it can work from various countries!
Can I sign up even if I’m in Brazil? What’s the best way to handle that?
Any particular VM service you'd recommend? I need a reliable one.