How to migrate OneDrive from one tenant to another

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Preparing a OneDrive tenant-to-tenant migration as part of a business merger or acquisition? We explain how you can tackle your OneDrive migration—ensuring users have everything they need to succeed in their new OneDrive environment.

Is a OneDrive tenant-to-tenant migration on your roadmap? The ability to migrate this data as needed in the context of a merger or acquisition is a critical process to ensure our workflows also transition with us seamlessly.

Here at ShareGate, we’re well-known for our SharePoint migration tool. And since OneDrive data lives in the same Microsoft 365 ecosystem, you want to make the process as smooth as possible and guarantee your tenant-to-tenant migration is a success.

This article will show you how to migrate OneDrive data between tenants.


What is Microsoft OneDrive for Business?

OneDrive for Business takes cloud storage to another level, providing the tools to store, organize, access, collaborate, and share data across your enterprise and beyond, with all security.

How To Migrate Onedrive From One Tenant To Another Onedrive Contoso View

You may already be familiar with the storage power of OneDrive for Business. The ability to securely store all your enterprise data in a centralized location is invaluable. But OneDrive for Business is far more than just a simple storage solution and can help your organization in numerous other ways. With it, you can: 

  • Share files and folders 
  • Create a shared library 
  • Set file expiration dates
  • Manage external sharing
  • Create security groups with customized access permissions 
  • Create informational barriers 
  • Create conditional access 

Each of these features helps drive collaboration without compromising security. You can ensure that the right teams can access the data they need to work effectively.

With capabilities like co-authoring files – where users can collaborate in real-time in one document, or multi-geo – allowing multinational enterprises to organize and share data across regions according to the company’s policies, OneDrive for Business is an exceptional tool for organizing your enterprise’s data and optimizing workflows.

Playbook

Tenant-to-tenant migrations

How to efficiently plan and execute migrations for mergers & acquisitions or a reorganization.

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How can I migrate OneDrive data from one tenant to another?

As you prepare for your OneDrive data migration, we recommend that you take inventory of your environment.

Doing this will allow you to make better decisions about what to migrate and what may be redundant or outdated. Once you’ve identified any redundant data, remove it from the data you intend to migrate. This will help optimize your new tenant environment by including only the important content.

Interested in learning how easy a Teams tenant-to-tenant can be? Here are 2 ways to make the process seamless.

How To Migrate Onedrive From One Tenant To Another Sharegate Sharepoint Analysis

Your clean-up process should also include a structuring or restructuring of the information architecture for your organization so that it can be accessed and used post-migration efficiently.  

From there, you can begin the process of migrating content from one tenant to another. 

Related: Microsoft 365 cross tenant migration tips

 As a SharePoint administrator of two separate tenants, you can use the Set-SPOCrossTenantRelationship cmdlet to establish an organization relationship and the Start-SPOCrossTenantUserContentMove command to begin moving your OneDrive data and OneDrive files between tenants. 

It’s important to plan your migration and run a pre-check migration simulation before the big move to protect your environment from any unexpected issues that might arise. Running your migration without these steps increases the risk of problems and may prove costly, requiring more time from your IT department to troubleshoot and resolve problems during or after a live migration.

How To Migrate Onedrive From One Tenant To Another Sharegate Sharepoint Source Details

Can you merge OneDrive accounts?

Many people have more than one OneDrive sub-account for managing their personal and professional documents and information. In these cases, when people need to move information from one account to another, they may look for solutions to merge their user accounts. However, there is no merge function and the solutions available still require users to migrate OneDrive data and OneDrive files from one tenant to another. 

While it’s currently not possible to merge accounts, you can work with multiple accounts side by side. Or, you can copy or drag and drop files from one account to another by opening two OneDrive accounts in separate File Explorer or Finder tabs.

How To Migrate Onedrive From One Tenant To Another Onedrive File Explorer

Can ShareGate migrate OneDrive for Business?

ShareGate can help simplify the arduous task of migration and allow you to schedule it for off-hours, even executing incremental and batch migrations for organizations with large amounts of data.  

ShareGate can also help move your users’ content from one OneDrive for Business to another.

How to complete a OneDrive for Business migration

  1. Create a CSV guide (or several, to batch migrations with hundreds of gigabytes). To do this, follow the step-by-step guide in our ShareGate support documentation.  
  2. Copy & Paste the following script into any PowerShell application: 

Import-Module Sharegate 
$csvFile = “C:\CSV\CopyContent.csv”
$table = Import-Csv $csvFile -Delimiter “,” 

$srcUsername = “sourceusername”
$srcPassword = ConvertTo-SecureString “sourcepassword” -AsPlainText -Force 

$dstUsername = “destinationusername”
$dstPassword = ConvertTo-SecureString “destinationpassword” -AsPlainText -Force 

Set-Variable srcSite, dstSite, srcList, dstList
foreach ($row in $table) { 

    Clear-Variable $srcSite 

    Clear-Variable $dstSite 

    Clear-Variable $srcList 

    Clear-Variable $dstList 

    $srcSite = Connect-Site -Url $row.SourceSite -Username $srcUsername -Password $srcPassword 

    Add-SiteCollectionAdministrator -Site $srcSite 

    $dstSite = Connect-Site -Url $row.DestinationSite -Username $srcUsername -Password $srcPassword 

    Add-SiteCollectionAdministrator -Site $dstSite 

    $srcList = Get-List -Site $srcSite -Name “Documents” 

    $dstList = Get-List -Site $dstSite -Name “Documents” 

    Copy-Content -SourceList $srcList -DestinationList $dstList 

    Remove-SiteCollectionAdministrator -Site $srcSite  

    Remove-SiteCollectionAdministrator -Site $dstSite


ShareGate: Your go-to OneDrive migration tool

Now you’ve seen how to migrate OneDrive from one tenant to another. However, no matter the size of your organization, the thought of a migration process can still be daunting.

But there’s no fear with ShareGate here! Our handy a tenant-to-tenant migration can help you accomplish a OneDrive migration or migrate OneDrive files, something that’s especially useful in the context of change management or a business merger and acquisition.


Migrating OneDrive for business from one tenant to another FAQ

What is a OneDrive migration?

Simply put, a OneDrive migration moves data from one OneDrive account (in one Microsoft 365 tenant) to another OneDrive account (in a different Microsoft 365 tenant).
This usually happens when a company is in a merger / acquisition with another company or when an employee is leaving one company and joining another.

How do I migrate OneDrive data?

You can migrate OneDrive data using various tools and methods, including Microsoft’s native migrator tool or a third-party migration tool like ShareGate. Each tool has its own set of requirements and limitations, so it’s important to choose the right one for your specific needs. For example, ShareGate comes with many customizations and reporting for your migration project, plus managing your environment after the fact.

What data can be migrated from OneDrive?

Most types of data stored in OneDrive can be migrated, including files, folders, and documents. Of course, there are a few limitations depending on the migration tool you are using, such as file size limits or restrictions on certain file types.

Can I migrate OneDrive data between different Microsoft 365 plans?

Totally, it is possible to migrate OneDrive data between different Microsoft 365 plans. But as always – there might be some limitations depending on your specific plans involved. Be diligent and check the compatibility of your plans before starting the migration process. Got questions on how to do it? Our support team is always happy to field questions.

What are some best practices for OneDrive migration?

Make sure to plan ahead: create a detailed plan that outlines the entire migration process. This plan should include a timeline, a list of tasks and responsibilities, and contingency plans in case of unexpected issues.

Backup your data: Create a backup of all your OneDrive data before starting the migration process. This backup will be your safety net in case something goes wrong during the migration.

Test before you run: Before migrating any data, test the migration process in a non-production environment to identify and fix any issues that may arise during the migration. This will help you avoid any potential disruptions to your production environment. Easy! ShareGate also gives you a great overview of your environment before you run. You can see it right now in our free trial.

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