--- title: "Copying between two cloud accounts" url: https://storagestudio.us/wiki/copying-between-two-cloud-accounts category: "Data Transfers" tags: ["data transfers", "cloud accounts", "sync"] summary: "Data Transfers can copy, move or sync straight from one cloud account to another — say from Dropbox to Google Drive. The transfer runs on your Mac, so the files pass through its internet connection, and only what both services can store comes across." updated: 2026-10-01T05:34:01.000Z --- # Copying between two cloud accounts Data Transfers can copy, move or sync straight from one cloud account to another — say from Dropbox to Google Drive. The transfer runs on your Mac, so the files pass through its internet connection, and only what both services can store comes across. You can copy, move or sync folders directly from one cloud account to another — from Dropbox to Google Drive, say, or between two OneDrive accounts — without first downloading everything into a folder yourself. Pick one account as the **Source** and the other as the **Destination** in Data Transfers, and Storage Studio does the rest. ## Step by step 1. Connect both accounts first, in [Cloud accounts](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/cloud-accounts). Two accounts with the same provider are fine — give each a nickname you'll recognise. 2. In **Data Transfers**, click **New Transfer** and choose the operation. **Copy** is the safest for a first move between services; see [Copy, Move, Sync or Two-way sync](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/copy-move-sync-or-two-way-sync). 3. For **Source**, click the cloud button and choose **Browse** on the first account, then pick the folder (see [the cloud folder browser](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/the-cloud-folder-browser)). 4. For **Destination**, do the same on the second account. Use **New Folder** in the browser if the destination folder doesn't exist yet. 5. Optionally tick **Dry run (preview only)** to check the list of files first — see [Trying a transfer first with Dry run](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/dry-run). 6. Click **Start Transfer**. ```mermaid %% caption: How a cloud-to-cloud transfer travels flowchart LR A[Source cloud account] -->|Downloaded| M[Storage Studio on your Mac] M -->|Uploaded| B[Destination cloud account] M -.-> L[Progress, speed and Log in Data Transfers] ``` *Flowchart — How a cloud-to-cloud transfer travels. Outline:* - Source cloud account - Downloaded: leads to Storage Studio on your Mac - Storage Studio on your Mac - Uploaded: leads to Destination cloud account - leads to Progress, speed and Log in Data Transfers ## Does it go through my Mac? Yes. The transfer runs on your Mac, so each file is read from the first account and written to the second over your Mac's internet connection. That means: - **Your Mac needs to stay on and online.** Storage Studio doesn't keep it awake for a transfer; if it sleeps, the transfer pauses with it. See [what happens to transfers when you restart](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/transfers-and-restarts). - **It uses your connection in both directions** — every file is downloaded and uploaded once. On a metered or shared connection, set a **Bandwidth limit** in **Advanced options**; see [Bandwidth limit and files at once](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/bandwidth-and-files-at-once). - **It takes as long as your connection allows**, so a large library can take hours. You can close the Data Transfers window — the transfer keeps going while Storage Studio is running. ## What comes across Each file's contents and name are copied. Beyond that, a transfer keeps as much of a file's details as **both** services can store, and that differs from service to service: - **Modification dates** are kept where the destination lets an app set them. - **Mac-only details** — Finder tags, permissions, the Locked flag and other extended attributes — have nowhere to live in most cloud services, so they usually don't come across. - **Sharing settings and version history** stay with the source service. The destination gets the files themselves. When a service supports file checksums, Storage Studio uses them to decide what has changed, so a repeat run doesn't send files that are already identical. ## Things that can't be a source or destination - A **Google Photos** account can only be a destination — see [Google Photos](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/google-photos). - The **Photos library of another Apple ID** is read-only, so it can only be a source — see [iCloud Photos of another Apple ID](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/icloud-photos-of-another-apple-id). - Some services can't be connected at all — see [Accounts Storage Studio doesn't connect](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/accounts-we-dont-connect). ## Keeping two accounts in step To keep a folder the same in two accounts, use **Sync (one-way)** if you only change it in one of them, or **Bidirectional sync** if you change both — remembering the first-run step in [Two-way sync and the First run box](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/two-way-sync-first-run). Add a **Schedule** to repeat it; each run sends only what changed. More answers: https://storagestudio.us/faq See also: [Data Transfers](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/data-transfers) · [A transfer failed](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/a-transfer-failed) · [When an account needs signing in again](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/when-an-account-needs-signing-in-again) ## What links here - [Bandwidth limit and files at once](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/bandwidth-and-files-at-once) - [Cloud accounts](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/cloud-accounts) - [Connecting Box](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/connecting-box) - [Copy, Move, Sync or Two-way sync](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/copy-move-sync-or-two-way-sync) - [Data Transfers](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/data-transfers) - [Google Photos: what's possible and the Takeout route](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/google-photos) - [The cloud folder browser](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/the-cloud-folder-browser)