With the recent acquisition of ShareFile by Progress, many users are wondering how hard it is to move data in or out of ShareFile. Fortunately, ShareFile migrations don't have to be a challenge. Whether you're looking to move a few folders or do an entire full organization migration, ShareFile migrations are quick and simple with Movebot. Simply connect your ShareFile account and any platforms you want to migrate to or from, and start moving data in minutes with a ShareFile migration tool that just works.
ShareFile restrictions
ShareFile has a few restrictions with files and folders that could be an issue when migrating from certain platforms. While Movebot is able to handle most of these automatically if you enable the appropriate settings, knowing the restrictions is helpful if you want to prepare data manually.
File and folder restrictions
Citrix ShareFile has similar restricted special characters as many other storage platforms such as SharePoint. Many of the expected characters can't be used such as / " \ and ? as they would affect the file architecture. You also can't have a filename without an extension or with leading or trailing whitespaces.
Where these can become an issue is if you're moving from a storage platform like Google Workspace that doesn't have such restrictions. In Google, there aren't any restricted characters, and you can name files and folders anything. But since ShareFile can't accept these characters, they can't be moved over as is.
The same goes for duplicate files and folders. Like most storage platforms, ShareFile won't accept duplicates. For full migrations into ShareFile in an empty account this likely won't be a problem, but it could be an issue if consolidating data from multiple sources or integrating data into an active ShareFile account.
Movebot's filename sanitization can take care of any naming issues automatically without you having to manually sort through the data. However, if you do want to make the changes on your own, Movebot's Discovery Scan will pick up on these folders and files that can't be moved and give you a list so you can make those changes yourself.
File size and depth limits
Depending on your ShareFile plan, you'll have different limits when it comes to file size. On the Standard Plan, the maximum file size you can upload is capped at 10GB. If you have files larger than this you plan to move into ShareFile, you'll want to make sure you're on the Advanced or Premium plan, which both have a limit of 100GB per file.
As for file depth, there is a limit but no specific number is given by ShareFile. They recommend attempting to drill down further if this error comes up. There is also a 260-character limit for file paths.
Again, Movebot's scan will catch if these or other file issues come up and let you know before you move any files so you can make adjustments before starting your migration.
Common ShareFile migrations
Movebot supports ShareFile migrations to and from over any of the 30+ storage platforms that we support. Both personal and shared folders can be moved with permission migrations supported for shared folders.
ShareFile and SharePoint
Movebot can move into or out of ShareFile and SharePoint without issue. Sharefile to SharePoint migrations are relatively straightforward because of similar restrictions on characters and file paths.
When migrating from ShareFile to SharePoint or vice versa, one of the main limiters you're likely to run into is SharePoint rate limiting. In the same size migration, having many small files will take more than fewer large files because of rate limiting, but Movebot has several features like advanced delta migrations to help make sure all your files arrive as expected.
ShareFile and Google Workspace
Google is one of the most straightforward platforms to migrate into because of its relatively few restrictions compared to other storage platforms. Migrating ShareFile to Google Workspace is simple because of this, and you're unlikely to run into significant blockers.
Going the other way has slightly more nuance but Movebot can still handle the migration without issue. You may need to use more of Movebot's content transformation features like filename sanitization or you might need to make some more adjustments before starting the migration, but the Discovery Scan will pick up on any of these potential problems so you can fix them before they become issues.
Movebot as a ShareFile migration tool
Connecting ShareFile to Movebot only takes a few short steps, and then you can start migrating to and from any of the storage platforms Movebot supports. All you have to do is follow Movebot's simple PAC process (Plan, Advance, Cutover) and you can start moving data in minutes.
Connecting your ShareFile account
The first step is to connect your ShareFile account to Movebot. To do this, create a new connection and find the option for Sharefile (Citrix). From there, simply name your connection and click the button to link to Sharefile. You'll then be prompted to connect to your Movebot account. Go through the steps to authorize Movebot and you're ready to start your migration.
Plan - Setting up a project
When you have ShareFile connected, you can set up a project to begin your migration. Choose the ShareFile connection you created as either the source or destination, then the other platform that you want as the other. Like with ShareFile, you'll need to do an initial setup of this other connection before you can move files. Movebot will guide you through how to set up your connection at this stage, but for a quick overview of how to connect different platforms, see our Connections section in our knowledge base.
During the setup phase is where you'll pick content options like automatic deduplication as well. Movebot leaves the most common options selected by default, so review these to make sure they suit your project and make any changes you think will optimize your migration.
Finally, for the Options section, you can choose settings like requiring a scan and a review of the scan before making the migration and other settings like data processing region. Movebot lets you choose from regions all around the world so you can meet compliance standards and have full control of your data.
After choosing your options, you can save the project and set up transfers between ShareFile and the other platform.
Discovery Scan
The Discovery Scan is a powerful analysis tool we highly recommend running before doing any major transfers. You can run the scan over the entire organization or on individual transfers. When you run a scan, it checks the source and destination, analyzing both for any potential issues or incompatibilities. The Discovery Scan tells you how much data you actually have to move, as well as any ignored files or files that won't be able to migrate in the current state.
Advance - Creating transfers and moving data
Movebot takes an unusual approach to migrations. Unlike many other data migration tools that require you to move the entire source to the destination, Movebot has you set up transfers instead.
A transfer is a move from the source to the destination, and can be broken down to the folder level. This means you can move the entire organization by choosing the root folder or drives, or you can dive deeper and choose down to a specific folder to move.
Running migrations by transfers gives you a number of advantages. One is that you can isolate specific folders to move first and make sure those arrive as expected at the destination. Another is that you don't actually have to move all the files.
But Movebot goes a step beyond by not only letting you choose folders to exclude, but also giving you filtering options so you can exclude data that you don't need but might not necessarily know where it is. For example, if you have files that haven't been looked at for nearly a decade, you might not need those in an active storage platform. You can leave those behind completely, and just as easily set them up as part of another migration.
For instance, if you're doing a ShareFile to OneDrive migration and only want files modified in the last 3 years, you can set that criteria and run a transfer. Then for the files you don't move, you could do a ShareFile to Wasabi migration or ShareFile to Amazon S3 for those extra files, moving them to a place that's a better fit.
Break down your migration into as many smaller transfers as you wish, with options to scan each individual transfer and start the jobs in whatever order you want.
Starting the migration is as easy as hitting Start on your transfer. Run one or multiple transfers and let Movebot handle the rest, with access to real-time stats while the migration is running.
Cutover - Final checks and delta migrations
Once the transfer is finished, Movebot will give you a post-migration report with stats about your project along with any files that failed to transfer. You can rerun these immediately or wait to run them as part of a delta migration.
In Movebot, delta migrations check for new and modified files and move only those to the destination. You don't have to worry about getting everything perfect the first time, and users can continue working in the source account without having to worry if their updates will make it to the destination. In fact, Movebot doesn't require any downtime at all; since the source files are copied instead of directly transferred, there's virtually no risk of data loss, and users never have to stop working, even while the migration is in progress.
Simply run delta migrations and Movebot will pick up changes and move them across. Run as many of these as you need until all the files are migrated to or from ShareFile.
Try Movebot for your ShareFile Migration
ShareFile Migrations are simple with Movebot. No matter what kind of files and folders you have to move, Movebot can migrate them quickly and always leave you in the loop so you know the status at all times. Whether moving out of or into ShareFile, Movebot has you covered.
Find out how simple ShareFile migrations are for yourself with a free 50GB trial. Every new account gets 50GB at signup, with no credit card or sales call required. Simply sign up, connect your platforms, and start moving. It's that easy. Register for your account now to get started.
