How to migrate your files from Google Drive to a self-hosted cloud

So, you’ve created your own cloud data storage using Nextcloud. CasaOSor another platform and now you want to transfer your Google Drive to it. Where to start? Considering you can get a very similar experience to Google Drive with your own self-hosted platforms, it’s a no-brainer to at least give it a try, and Google even gives you the tools to make this migration happen.

How to prepare Google Drive data for transfer to your own cloud storage

Downloading files from Google is a fairly simple process, although it may take some time for Google to compile all your files. Using Google Archiveryou can select the files you want to upload, and in this case we will only select files from Google Drive. You can also include your photos if you want to transfer them.

You can customize how the files are split and how often you receive them if you want it to repeat. You can set the maximum ZIP file size to 50 GB or split it into multiple parts. Alternatively, you can change the compression format to tgz, which is a tar file compressed with gzip.

Once you do this, compilation may take several hours or days. By default, you’ll receive an email with your files when they’re ready, but Google also supports exporting directly to OneDrive, Box, and Dropbox. Once you receive the exported file, download the files and move on to the next step.

Upload your files to cloud storage and start using it.

Google Drive replacement is now complete.

Once you have received the ZIP file (or files), the next step is to extract it and upload it to the service of your choice. I’m using Nextcloud, but these steps will be more or less the same for any local storage solution. With Nextcloud you can simply drag and drop files to upload them, and on a local network this should be incredibly fast.

Now that you’ve downloaded the files, it’s time to start configuring the connection settings on your devices. Nextcloud has a client that you can use on your PC or smartphone, and CasaOS has a web client that works well on mobile devices. You can also connect to CasaOS using other apps, so no matter what service you use on your own cloud, you can get a similar Google Drive experience.

When it comes to accessing your cloud storage from anywhere in the world, there are a number of solutions for this. You can use Tailscale, WireGuard, Remote Desktop Tools and much more. Personally, I use WireGuard and Nextcloud, which allow me to connect my phone to my NAS at home and my smartphone syncs selected folders to my Nextcloud instance. This includes my photographs, which are then processed by PhotoPrism.

It’s incredibly easy to switch, and most likely the longest part of the process will be downloading files from Google, depending on the speed of your Internet connection.