Migrating from Google Drive to BOX with rclone | Research Computing & Informatics

Moving research files from Google Drive to Stony Brook's enterprise BOX doesn't have to mean downloading everything and re-uploading by hand. rclone is a free, open-source command-line tool that copies directly between cloud services — Google Drive to Box — without your files ever touching local disk. This guide walks through a clean, verifiable migration.

Before you start — compliance: do not migrate PHI, PII, or other restricted data into BOX without institutional approval (granted case by case). Migrate only between accounts you're authorized to use, and never route Stony Brook Medicine data through a personal Google or Box account. When in doubt, email RCI or open a Box request first.

What you'll need

An active Stony Brook enterprise BOX account
Access to the Google Drive you're migrating from
A computer (Windows, macOS, or Linux) with a stable internet connection — the transfer is cloud-to-cloud, so your machine only brokers it and doesn't need free disk space for the files
About 15 minutes for setup; transfer time depends on data volume

Tip: because the copy is server-to-server, you can start it and walk away — but your computer must stay awake and connected. For very large migrations, run it inside a tmux or screen session so it survives a dropped connection.

Step by step

Install rclone. Download it from rclone.org/downloads, or use a package manager:

# macOS (Homebrew)
brew install rclone

# Windows (winget)
winget install Rclone.Rclone

# Linux / generic
curl https://rclone.org/install.sh | sudo bash

Confirm it's installed:

rclone version

Connect your Google Drive. Start the config wizard and create a remote named gdrive:
```
rclone config
```
Choose n (new remote), name it gdrive, then pick drive (Google Drive). Leave client_id and client_secret blank to start, or supply your own for better speed. Choose scope 1 for full access (or 2 read-only, which is enough to copy out). When asked "Use auto config?", choose Y on a desktop — a browser opens for you to sign in to Google and authorize rclone.
Connect your Box account. In the same rclone config session, add another remote named box: choose n, name it box, then pick box. Leave client ID/secret blank to use rclone's defaults. When the browser opens, sign in with your Stony Brook enterprise Box credentials (NetID or UHMC) and grant access. Finish and quit the wizard with q.
Verify both remotes. List the top-level folders on each to confirm the connections work:
```
rclone lsd gdrive:
rclone lsd box:
```
Do a dry run first. This shows exactly what would transfer without copying anything — always do this before a real run:
```
rclone copy gdrive: box:GoogleDriveMigration --drive-export-formats docx,xlsx,pptx --dry-run --progress
```
Review the output. Narrow the source (e.g. gdrive:ProjectFolder) to migrate just one folder instead of the whole drive.
Run the migration. Remove --dry-run and add rate-limit flags that keep Box's API happy:
```
rclone copy gdrive: box:GoogleDriveMigration \
  --drive-export-formats docx,xlsx,pptx \
  --transfers 4 --tpslimit 8 \
  --progress --log-file rclone-migration.log
```
This copies Google Drive into a new GoogleDriveMigration folder in Box. copy never deletes anything at the source, so your Google Drive stays intact.
Verify the transfer. Confirm every file arrived and matches:
```
rclone check gdrive: box:GoogleDriveMigration --drive-export-formats docx,xlsx,pptx --one-way
```
A clean run reports 0 differences found. Spot-check a few files in the Box web interface, then — only once you're satisfied — clean up the Google Drive originals yourself.

Key things to know

📄 Google-native files convert

Docs, Sheets, and Slides aren't real files until exported
--drive-export-formats docx,xlsx,pptx converts them to Office formats
Without it, native files are skipped

⚠️ Box limits

No single file may exceed 500 GB
Box rate-limits the API — keep --tpslimit 8 and modest --transfers
Very large jobs run best overnight

copy vs. sync. Use rclone copy for a migration — it only adds files. Avoid rclone sync unless you intend to make the destination exactly match the source, which can delete files in Box.
Shared drives. To migrate a Google Shared Drive, add --drive-shared-with-me or configure the remote with the shared drive ID during rclone config.
Resuming. If a transfer is interrupted, just run the same copy command again — rclone skips files that already exist and picks up where it left off.

Need a hand? RCI can advise on large or sensitive migrations — open a Box request or email webmaster@stonybrookmedicine.edu. Full rclone documentation lives at rclone.org/docs.