Moving files into SharePoint has long been one of the more challenging migrations. In many cases, it isn't as straightforward as going from A to B, and a lot of migration tools struggle with accurately and quickly moving data to SharePoint. But Movebot makes it easy. One migration we see frequently is Egnyte to SharePoint migrations, and although there are a few differences between how the platforms handle data, Movebot takes care of most of these issues automatically, making the migration simple, straightforward, and fast.
Egnyte and SharePoint have a lot of similar restrictions for naming conventions, character limits, and file types, so most files will be able to transfer as is without issue. However, there are a few differences to keep in mind before you start moving files. Most of these Movebot can handle automatically, but if you want to make the changes yourself there are a few things to consider.
Egnyte and SharePoint share the same unsupported characters, meaning you don't have to worry about any individual character in a file or folder name causing a transfer failure. However, there are a few highly-specific cases that could be an issue.
In SharePoint, there are a few words or extensions that aren't allowed. Some of these include .lock, CON, AUX, _vti_, and LPT9. SharePoint also doesn't allow any filename that starts with ~$. Since Egnyte allows all of these, the files won't be able to move as if they have any of these specific invalid names. For a full list, see Restrictions and limitations in OneDrive and SharePoint.
SharePoint doesn't allow duplicate filenames, and trying to move a file with the same name in the same location will result in a failure. If you're doing a full migration into a clean SharePoint site, this shouldn't be a problem, but it's a possibility if you're consolidating or restructuring data as part of your migration or integrating data into an actively-used SharePoint site.
Microsoft is pushing to end support for SharePoint on-prem by 2026, so we don't recommend moving into an on-prem SharePoint tenant unless absolutely necessary. Unless the sunsetting date is extended again, when support ends your data will be at risk if any new threats or exploits arise.
SharePoint on-prem has significantly more restrictions compared to SharePoint online, and it's also more challenging to move data into. Movebot can do this with the Legacy Sharepoint/Onedrive connector, which requires the Client ID, Secret Key, and Domain Prefix of the SharePoint account.
Egnyte to SharePoint online migrations are fast and simple with Movebot, and it only takes a few minutes to set up your connections and start moving files.
Egnyte has one of the easiest and most straightforward connections to Movebot. Simply log in to Movebot and set up a new connection, then choose Egnyte as your storage type. Then name the connection, add your Egnyte domain (https://yourdomain.egnyte.com), and link the account to Movebot. Test that the connection is successful, and then you can use the Egnyte connection for migrations.
SharePoint takes a few extra steps to connect, and you'll ideally want to connect as an admin. Create a new connection and choose Sharepoint/Onedrive from the list of options. If possible we recommend delegated access for a faster connection and so you can enable SharePoint Ludicrous mode, which we cover later on.
There's also the option to connect by application which requires an Application ID and Client Secret. Whichever way you connect, make sure to test the connection and that it is working properly before trying a migration.
Movebot is a true SaaS data migration tool, meaning you don't have to spin up or manage any infrastructure. Everything is done automatically through the web interface. All you have to do is connect your source and destination, choose your settings, and let Movebot handle the rest.
With Egnyte and SharePoint connected, you can start setting up your migration. Create a new project in Movebot and choose the integrations you've set up. Then go through the remaining settings like permissions and choose what suits your needs.
The Content Options step has several useful features that can transform your data as it's being migrated into SharePoint. Here you can keep on the default options for Filename Sanitization and Duplicate Name Sanitization to automatically fix naming issues, and you can also preserve modification and update time on files.
One feature here that sets Movebot apart from other data migration tools is the option to Exclude files or objects from the migration. If you know there are files that you don't need, like files that haven't been opened in over a decade, you could leave them out of the migration completely. This will help you SharePoint account be less cluttered, and it's also fewer files to move which means faster migrations.
And because you can leave behind files and folders that aren't actively used, you can approach those differently. One option is to set up separate migrations to move them to one of the 30+ storage options Movebot supports. For instance, Movebot is great at migrating from Egnyte to SharePoint, but it can also do SharePoint to Egnyte or even move data from file storage to object storage.
Or you can run a manual cleanup task directly in Movebot to delete them. It's all up to you
When SharePoint is your destination, you'll also have special SharePoint Options like the option to ignore checksum and size checks in SharePoint to avoid failures and SharePoint Ludicrious mode.
Exclusive to Movebot, SharePoint Ludicrous Mode is an advanced method of doing migrations that significantly speeds up moving files into SharePoint. With Ludicrous Mode, we've seen migrations go up to 5x faster, providing a much better experience for moving into SharePoint.
Another major advantage of Movebot is that you don't have to do entire full organization migrations at once. While this is certainly an option, you can actually isolate data down to the folder level and move only one folder if you want. And you can set up multiple transfers at once, so what would have to be done as one massive migration in other tools can be broken up into smaller, more digestible pieces instead.
What this means for your users is that you can choose what files to move in which order, so you can get the most important files into SharePoint first. And because Movebot works as a copy/paste operation instead of moving files, there's no need for users to stop working in the source while the migration is happening. Movebot simply makes a copy of the file in the destination.
But what about any updates to the file? Wouldn't it be better to hold off working so the most up-to-date version is in SharePoint? Not with Movebot. Advanced Delta Migrations scan your source folders and look for any new or updated files and moves them to the destination. This is another advantage of breaking up your moves too; you can run deltas just on affected folders and scan and move just from those instead of the entire organization.
Once you've decided what files you want to migrate, we highly recommend running a Discovery Scan. It's optional, but the scan gives deep insights into your data and checks for incompatibilities you may have missed. By scanning instead of going straight into the move, you can find any issues that may have resulted in failures and fix them ahead of time instead of being reactive. From there you may be able to return to your project settings and update some settings to solve the issue for you, or you can use the scan results to manually find the affected objects and make the changes yourself.
Hit the start button on your transfer and let Movebot do the rest. While the migration is running, you'll have access to realtime stats about your migration on metrics like the number of files moved and the volume of data migrated.
When the migration is finished, Movebot will give you a post-transfer report. This has details about your migration like how much total data was moved and if there were any failures.
Then all you have to do is run delta migration until all the data you want is in SharePoint.
Migrating from Engyte to SharePoint doesn't have to be a long, complicated process. With a number of data transformation features, no infrastructure to worry about, and incredibly fast speeds, Movebot makes migrations simple and straightforward. Interested in other types of SharePoint migration? Have a read of The Complete Guide to SharePoint Migrations with Movebot to learn more.
If you want to see how easy it can be yourself, sign up for a Movebot account, where you'll get 250GB free data to move at signup. Use that data however you want, with no credit card or onboarding call required to get started. Simply sign up and get moving. Register for your account now to get started.