I’m trying to transfer a bunch of files from one OneDrive account to another and can’t figure out the best way to do it without downloading and re-uploading everything. Is there a simple or automated method for this? Any tips would be appreciated because I need this for a big account migration.
I Tried Out CloudMounter on Mac—Here’s the Real Deal
So, I fell into this deep rabbithole last month looking for a less clunky way to wrangle my shower of cloud drives in macOS. After tripping over an overly complicated Automator workflow and getting nowhere with Finder scripts, I picked up CloudMounter. Honestly, the promise sounded too good: hook up Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, heck, even FTP, then just drag and drop in Finder like it’s sitting on an external drive.
What I Noticed Right Off the Bat
Let’s be clear: the app basically glues your cloud stuff straight into Finder. No screwing around with logging out or shuffling between browser windows. Head straight to your cloud folders in Finder and treat them like regular disk space; batch file moves finally aren’t a nightmare.
- Zero relogging: Just add all your accounts at the start. No more session musical chairs.
- Finder-based everything: Copying dozens (or hundreds) of files from OneDrive to Google Drive feels almost native. Way faster for chunk moves than fiddling with browser uploads.
But—Here’s the Catch No One Tells Ya
Despite the seamless vibe, moving files from, say, OneDrive to Dropbox isn’t straight server-to-server. It all travels through your Mac. So while it seems like you’re just shuffling files between clouds, your machine is busy quietly downloading from one and uploading to the other behind the scenes. You won’t see the files pile up in Downloads, but your bandwidth gets used twice and things can slow down if you’re moving large sets.
Screenshot for the Curious
TL;DR Verdict
- Multi-account juggling with no relog required? Check.
- Drag-and-drop simplicity? Yep.
- True “cloud-to-cloud” speed? Not really—your own Mac’s gotta work overtime.
Would love to hear if anyone’s found a way around the local-transfer bottleneck, or if there are alternative tools that actually link clouds directly. Drop your horror stories and success hacks below!
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Okay, so Mike’s right—CloudMounter seems slick with that Finder integration, but I kinda hate that the data is still sucking up my bandwidth while it bounces through my Mac. Real talk: if you wanna truly keep everything in the cloud and not run it through your local Wifi or worse, have your laptop churning for days, you gotta look at third-party cloud-to-cloud transfer services. Options like MultCloud or odrive, for ex, actually do “server-to-server” moves (at least for some platforms), so once you kick off the transfer, it happens up in the cloud, not soaking your home network. Downside: they’re mostly paid. sigh.
If you’re allergic to subscriptions, the only free-ish trick built into OneDrive itself is to share big folders from account A with account B via a share link, and then “Add to my OneDrive” from account B. But (and here’s that “but”) it’s not a real copy—it’s just a shortcut for shared viewing, so if you need a legit duplicate, you STILL gotta copy files/folders over, which means they download/upload unless you use a web interface and do smaller batches.
CloudMounter is probably the friendliest if you want to manage all your clouds together and don’t mind about files going through your own computer (and honestly, it’s less of a hassle than browser-based mass downloads/re-uploads). But for situations where you have, like, 100GB+ or don’t want to babysit a file transfer, def check a true cloud-to-cloud SaaS tool or at least brace for slow speeds. Annoying, but that’s OneDrive for ya.
Like, can we seriously get Microsoft to make a built-in migration button? Would save a lot of us some grey hairs tbh.
If only Microsoft would hand us a magic “Migrate between OneDrive accounts” button already! I mean, @mikeappsreviewer and @caminantenocturno basically nailed the main options—CloudMounter is surprisingly slick if you want to handle this whole mess within Finder and don’t mind your internet getting double-punched by the download-then-upload tango. But, let’s be real, not everyone has the patience for their laptop to heat up for hours while 200GB of baby photos slosh back and forth, right?
Here’s where I’ll slightly diverge from the wisdom above: The other “built-in” tricks like sharing folders from one account to another are honestly a joke if you actually need two legit, separate copies—not just access. The “Add to my OneDrive” hack looks great on paper until you have to mass-copy things, and boom, you’re stuck in browser limbo with 50-tab hell or some files quietly failing because the web app timed out. The uphill battle is real.
Now, CloudMounter is a godsend for people who want all their clouds in one pane and can deal with their own upload/download speeds. But if you’re like me and want things truly server-to-server—and not to drop cash for a single-use SaaS subscription—the free ride is honestly over. Cloud-to-cloud services like MultCloud or odrive actually do the job behind the scenes, but yeah, they cost and have transfer limits unless you pay up. Still, if you’ve got a ton of files or a wobbly connection that craps out halfway through a Mac-mediated transfer, it’s worth weighing the cost vs. wasted time.
For anyone hoping for a hacky workaround: automation tools (like Power Automate) sound appealing, but the configs are a pain, and, you guessed it, they still route files through your machine or blow up with large datasets.
Final answer: Unless Microsoft finally makes a real transfer tool, your “best” path is either CloudMounter for ease (if smaller batches or not mission-critical speed), or just bite the bullet and use a paid cloud-to-cloud service if you want it fire-and-forget style. And if you find a truly seamless, free solution—seriously, tell us, because the rest of us are still suffering.
Here’s the hard truth: there’s no true “move” between two OneDrive accounts without jumping some digital hurdles. Everyone touts CloudMounter for its Finder integration—you open it, link both OneDrive accounts, drag your gigabytes between them, and look, it’s like dark magic. But, as @mikeappsreviewer said, it’s really your Mac acting as middleman—your data goes down and back up. Slick interface, but that sweet-sounding “direct cloud transfer” is an illusion.
CloudMounter’s pros:
- Super easy: treat all your clouds as Finder folders (honestly, feels native).
- Supports not just OneDrive, but Google Drive, Dropbox, old-school FTP—the works.
- No need for browser juggling, permissions hassles, or convoluted sharing tricks.
Cons, though:
- Still eats your local bandwidth and time. Your laptop will labor through download–upload.
- If your internet sucks or files are huge, get ready for slow-mo pain.
- Not free after trial (and if you only need to transfer once, those recurring costs sting).
Competitors like MultCloud and odrive? Pretty much the same story, only their selling point is ‘cloud-to-cloud’ through their servers—sometimes with speed caps for free users, or with paywalls for lots of files. For massive sets or mission-critical stuff, these are often more robust and hands-off, but you trade coin for convenience.
Honestly, if you just need to move a few files now and then, CloudMounter is painless (and less risky than browser crash-o-ramas), but don’t expect a magic server-only transfer unless you want to fork over to third parties. Or, hey, maybe wait until Microsoft wakes up and gives us all a real migration button.
If anyone’s sitting on some secret, whisper it to the group. Most of us are just caught between a wallet and a warm laptop.