When looking to move from Box to Dropbox, a lot of data migration companies will tell you it's hard, complicated, and takes a long time. But that doesn't have to be the case. Box to Dropbox migrations can be incredibly simple with the right tool. That's where Movebot comes in. Supporting 30+ platforms including Box and Dropbox, Movebot makes data migrations simple whether you have a few hundred GB or tens of thousands to move.
Box and Dropbox Comparison
While they might sound similar, Box isn’t just Dropbox with half the name dropped. The two platforms share a lot of similarities, but they also have some important differences that are helpful to know so you can be prepared for how your data will behave when moving from Box to Dropbox.
Box Cloud Storage overview
Emphasizing secure collaboration across devices, Box is used by organizations and companies around the world as a way to share files with added security. Claiming to be used by over 2/3 of the Fortune 500, Box is renowned for its Enterprise-grade security while still being simple enough to share files with people who need access.
Box aims to be the place where organizations can keep their unstructured data in a single platform that does storage, sharing, and more. A lot of the standout features revolve around either security or convenience for Enterprises, such as Box Sign, an e-signature tool that integrates with the content cloud.
On the collaboration front, Box has a couple of ways to make sure teams and users can find the content they need. Box Hubs break content down into groups, such as Marketing, Customer Support, and Accounts, keeping similar content together without having to make a separate copy. Box Canvas works as a virtual whiteboard, allowing users to sketch, add text, sticky notes, links, and much more, collaboratively and simultaneously. Box Notes is similar for text documents, allowing multiple people to work in the same document at the same time, no matter where they are.
Since security is a focus of Box, they have more robust security features compared to most cloud storage platforms. Security and Compliance are mentioned immediately on the website, and Box has several safeguards and security controls organizations can put into place like SSO, MFA support, and device security. Box Shield helps protect against data loss, detects malware, and has intelligent data leak protection to keep your data safe and secure.
When it comes to a cloud storage and collaboration platform with a security emphasis, Box is a solid choice.
Dropbox Cloud Storage overview
One of the most well-known cloud storage companies, Dropbox helped revolutionize storage by being among the first to let you store files in the cloud. Moving files from a local, physical device to an offsite location with redundancy allows users to share their data with people no matter where they are, with the confidence that it will stay safe and secure from device failures.
Over the years Dropbox has added a lot of features to make cloud storage easier and to let groups work collaboratively. One of these is Dropbox Paper, a document creator that lets multiple people work simultaneously no matter where they're physically located. This kind of collaboration extends to other features too, like the ability to edit, comment, and sign PDFs without ever having to leave Dropbox.
Dropbox has several ways to share files with the people who need access. One of the most straightforward is by having a Business account and using Team Folders. Team Folders help you group content and automatically give access to a specific group of people. Of course, you can also add extra people to specific subfolders or files if needed, but Team Folders give you a base group to give the right people access without having to think about it.
Another feature of Dropbox is the Smart Sync capability. Smart Sync lets users see files on the Dropbox account on their local device without having to store the files on the device itself. How this works is that Dropbox sends a small amount of metadata to the device, and then when someone needs the file the full file will be downloaded to the device. Other files can be viewed but won't take up space until needed on the local device.
Box to Dropbox migrations with Movebot
Migrating from Box to Dropbox is simple and straightforward with Movebot, and it only takes a few steps to connect the platforms and get started.
First, you'll need to connect your Box account. To do this, log in to Movebot and choose to add a storage connection. For Box, all you need to do is choose Box as your connection type, then decide if you want to connect as Team Admin (recommended to make sure you have access to see and move all data), and whether or not to exclude shared content. Movebot connects via OAuth, and this only needs to be done once.
Dropbox follows a similar process. Add a new storage connection and then pick Dropbox Team. Add in an Administrator account's email address and choose to exclude shared content or not, and then connect with OAuth.
With your platforms connected, you're ready to set up the migration.
Setting up the migration
Movebot aims to be simple, and our intuitive web interface walks you through everything you need to set up your Box to Dropbox migration. Create a new project and add your Box and Dropbox account as the source and destination.
When you get to the content options step, double-check if you need automatic file conversion. This option is selected by default and will help transform Box Notes into a usuable format, since Box Notes are in a proprietary format only useable from within Box. Leaving this option checked will convert any Box Notes into JSON files that can be opened and readable with any compatible application.
Something you may notice during setup is the option to ignore files. This is a special feature of Movebot that lets you control what data you actually want to migrate. Many migration tools take an all-or-nothing approach, making you move the entire source to the destination. You don't have to do that with Movebot. Massive files, old files, files with extensions from applications you no longer have access to, all of these can be ignored with Movebot's filtering. Save space and save time by only moving what you actually need.
Decide if you want to exclude any files, then go through the rest of the content options and choose settings such as notifications and your data processing region. When you're happy with everything you can save the transfer (and always edit the setting later if you need to) and start the migration.
Running transfer projects
Another helpful option of Movebot is that you can break down large migrations into smaller transfers. You can do this down to the folder level if you want, to move important files and folders first or isolate them to make sure everything moves successfully. Instead of moving everything at once, you can make transfers for each user, each department, each drive, whatever works best for your situation.
Once you've set up one or more transfers, you can choose to run them from the Transfers screen. It's okay to run multiple transfers at once without hurting performance, so you can have several running simultaneously with different settings and destinations.
While you have transfers running, the Performance Tracker activates, which gives you real-time stats about your ongoing transfers. Here you can see the amount and volume of data transferred, as well as other helpful metrics. After the transfers are done, you'll get a post-migration report that compiles stats and lets you know if there were any errors or files that failed to transfer.
Cutover and delta migrations
So what do you do if you had some failures or have some more files to move? Thankfully, you don't have to run the whole migration again thanks to Movebot's delta migration functionality. Delta migrations scan the source and destination folders and check for new or modified files. Then, it moves only those files and ignores the rest. Any files that failed to move will be caught here, as well as changes and updates to files that happened since the transfer ran.
You can run as many delta migrations as you want until you're confident that everything has moved from Box to Dropbox. And you can add additional transfers to the same project later on if you ignored files or need to move more, without having to set up the connections and settings again. It's easy to make sure you have everything you need when you use Movebot.
Make Box to Dropbox migrations simple with Movebot
Migrating from Box to Dropbox doesn't have to be slow, complicated, and difficult. There's an easier way with Movebot. Simply connect your platforms, set up a project, and start moving data in minutes. It's that easy.
Need to see it for yourself? That's easy too. Every new account with Movebot gets 250GB free data to use. And sign up is simple too, with no credit card, sales call, or other blockers getting in the way. Simply sign up and start moving. Get started today and register for your account now.
