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On-premises file migration to Dropbox | Movebot - Data Agility

Written by Jayden @ Movebot | Jul 13, 2021 2:30:00 AM

With the current trend in the migration market being on-premises file servers and shares to the cloud, it is only fitting that migrating to a cloud storage platform such as Dropbox aligns with businesses digital transformation and resilience strategy. How can you move your on-premise file server to Dropbox quickly and easily without breaking the bank?

Why move a file server to Dropbox?

The benefits of migrating to a platform that is agnostic such as Dropbox are the cost vs hosting infrastructure, the security and ability for users to collaborate without VPNs,  and its ability to work with both Google Workspace and O365 for document editing and collaboration.

When comparing Dropbox to the likes of SharePoint, Dropbox does not charge for data but only users. When your data reaches a certain threshold in SharePoint, SharePoint struggles handle the amount of data and comes to a grinding halt, but also pricing becomes prohibitive.

Migrating to Dropbox does not have to be complex or challenging, often the biggest part is the change management component, but having a robust and simple solution to migrate the data removes a majority of the unknown and uncertainty when migrating. Additionally, a platform that can scale regardless how many users and how much data you have is beneficial as it provides a peace of mind and certainty when it can rapidly migrate large amounts data and sync changes without skipping a beat. 

Movebot for moving from a file server to Dropbox

Movebot is a fully cloud-hosted and managed next-generation data and file migration tool. Where Movebot excels is when it comes to high-performance data migrations at scale across users and data volume due to the dedicated nature of the product. Due to Movebot charging per TB rather than per user the solution works out more cost-effective in contrast to other tools on the market who charge per user.

When you're looking to migrate from an on-premises file server or share Movebot provides a Windows File Server agent that can be optionally installed as a service or run simply as an executable. This agent can be installed on a dedicated VM or on the file system itself. Movebot's agent communicates with the control plane located in the cloud and uploads data using HTTPS, as well ensures zero lost data through integrity checking. 

The agent enables you to drill into your on-premises file system and NAS's and map specific home directories, folders and network shares to users and team drives within Dropbox. You can also save time and bulk upload user and drive mappings by uploading a CSV file.

 

High performance file transfers

To ensure high performance file transfer Movebot offers automatic optimisation, infrastructure scaling and error handling throughout your migration execution. With these features and the fact that Movebot is backed by scalable public cloud infrastructure with large network links your files can be processed rapidly, all without leaving any data behind. 

Movebot features

Where Movebot truly shines is its reporting and visibility at all stages of your migration, the pre-migration discovery scan, logs and graphs during the migration execution and post-migration downloadable reports and logs.

During the pre-migration discovery you get a full breakdown on your file types, sizes, modified age, and a detailed overview of each user, folder, drive's size and amount of files are held. As well any flagged issues that may arise during the migration stage.

During the execution Movebot provides real-time logs from its worker nodes that you can tail and see what is happening, as well as graphing to show worker resources (CPU, memory) as well as source and destination rate-limiting.

Finally, once your migration has completed you can download all the worker logs, a full audit log, folder reports and more. It is your data, so you should have full visibility.

Discovery scan

As mentioned above, a valuable free feature is the ability to run a discovery scan  on your entire infrastructure and provide a detailed breakdown of your file distribution across users, folders, network shares and network attached storage devices. The scan will also provide extensive metadata and flag any issues that may arise when it comes to the execution of the migration. This enables you to plan accordingly and understand what your source platform generally looks like. 

Movebot Explorer

For more advanced scanning functionality, Movebot Explorer offers a breakdown of your data by user, file type, size, and more. It also offers long-term data trends and gives helpful data insights including potential duplicates and wasted space. Explorer is included on any Movebot subscription. 

Try Movebot for moving an on-premises file server to Dropbox

If you're looking to migrate 1TB, 1PB or anything in between see how Movebot can help and modernize your data and teams with Dropbox. You can try Movebot for free without having to talk to sales or put in a credit card and evaluate the tool for yourself. Register for a free 14-day trial today and see why Movebot can help get your files moving.