Honestly, I appreciate where @mikeappsreviewer is coming from—making S3 feel like a drag-and-drop folder is a gamechanger for casual file work or if you’re shuffling a few gigs. But if you’re talking a full S3 bucket migration, including all data and also permissions, the folder-mount approach like CloudMounter is handy for quick moves but not really bulletproof for a production move with minimal downtime and zero data loss.
First thing: AWS DataSync (yeah, that old doc) actually does a better job for full migrations, and more importantly, can handle millions of objects with checksum validation, parallel transfers, and error reporting. If you want the sleep-at-night confidence, launch a DataSync task between buckets in separate accounts. Set up appropriate IAM cross-account roles so DataSync can read in source, write to destination, and your transfer is resumable if stuff goes sideways. No accidental partial uploads thanks to your WiFi deciding it’s nap time.
About “permissions”—cloud-mount tools don’t replicate bucket policies, ACLs, or S3 object ownership. You gotta script that (think AWS CLI or boto3, or the “bucket replication” feature for continuous sync). If you want an exact copy, including permissions and object metadata (crucial for static sites, backups, etc.), you’ll want to script the migration. CLI copy commands (aws s3 cp --recursive or even aws s3 sync) paired with dumping/reapplying policies will do it. There’s no magic “copy bucket universe” button, unfortunately.
Some downtime worry? Setup the destination bucket, copy all existing data, then — this is the key — either use S3 Replication (if available between accounts) or a script to keep syncing new changes until the cutover. Switch your apps/services over once you’re satisfied the destination is up to date. No single-step “move,” it’s a migrate-then-switch.
TL;DR: For “folderization” and individual object work, CloudMounter is neat and great for multi-cloud chaos. For large, permission-sensitive bucket moves with minimal downtime, lean on AWS’s native tools, accept it’ll need a little scripting, and maybe keep CloudMounter in your toolbox for cleanup or odd jobs after the main event. And don’t forget to double-check object ownership and permissions at the end or you’ll be in for a world of 403 errors.