Transfer Files from Dropbox to Google Drive/ SkyDrive and vice versa

The rise of cloud storage service has given a birth to multiple service providers offering wide  range of solutions to all kind of users. In fact, 2012 has witnessed the rise of such service providers by manifold. With giants like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Dropbox already serving users from diverse community, it became somewhat difficult to manage all of them. In the past, we’ve provided a detailed guide to manage multiple cloud service on android (guide for PC users is here). Such services solves our basic problem of maintaining account and knowing what files are stored on different services. By now, it would be safe to presume that most of us have accounts on multiple sites.

Having solved the first problem of managing multiple cloud service, there arises another problem of transferring essential files between them. How do we transfer files from one service like dropbox to Google Drive and vice versa? Even a small child will be able to answer the question, that is to download file from dropbox to PC and then to upload it back to Google Drive or SkyDrive. Although, the solution seems to be feasible, but as a geek we always want trim down the extra effort we’ve to put into. Moreover, following such lengthy process is impractical and is often cumbersome.

There is a geeky solution of our problem to transfer file from Google Drive to Dropbox service or vice versa. For the sake of simplicity, we will mention Google Drive and Dropbox/ SkyDrive services only. Same steps could be applied to other services as well.

Transfer file from Google Drive to SkyDrive

SMEStorage provides an easy to grasp solution to solve our problem of transferring files between multiple storage services like dropbox, skydrive, google drive etc. It is an online service, available in free and paid version, that allows you to access and manage multiple cloud storage service. SMEStorage provides Linux, Windows and Mac client hence it is extremely useful service for them. Free cloud package will give you 5GB of free storage in addition to add 3 different cloud service from the list of service providers.

Step 1: Go to SMEStorage.com and create a new account if you haven’t created one already. During the process it will ask you to verify your account via email. Carefully enter all the information and activate your SMEStorage free account.

Step 2: Under the ‘Home’ option you will find ‘Add a Cloud Provider’ option. Click on that option. It will take you to the dashboard from where you can add and manage multiple cloud storage services.

Step 3: Now press on ‘Add new provider’. It will provide you the list of service provider. You can choose 3 different services of your choice. We’re choosing Dropbox, Google Drive and SkyDrive service. There is no service called Google Drive. You have to select ‘Google Docs’ instead, which has been redirected to Google Drive now.

Step 4: Upon authorizing all the accounts, the dashboard will display all the authorized account.To avoid confusion we’re using only Google Docs (Drive) account in this example.  Now select ‘settings’ option from the list of service provider. Press ‘Synchronize in background’. This will synchronize your Google Drive account and enlist all the documents and files stored there.

Step 5: Now go to ‘File Manager’ tab on the top. For simplicity choose File Manage only (not File Manager 3 Beta).

Step 6: From left pane, we will choose ‘My Google Docs files’ since we want to transfer files from Google Drive to SkyDrive.

Step 7: On the right pane, it will display all the files present on Google Drive. Click any file you want to transfer from Google Drive to SkyDrive/ Dropbox. Press ‘Generate direct links’. It will create a direct link for download which could be used to transfer the file. Copy the URL generated by SMEStorage. We will use it in next step.

Step 8: Now go to ‘My SkyDrive files’ on left pane. Press ‘www Download’ from the top menu and enter the URL which you got in step 7. Paste the URL which you got from step 7 and click on ‘Download by URL’.

It will silently transfer your file from Google Drive to SkyDrive via SMEStorage service.

Since we’re using FREE account, there are certain restriction. It allows only 1GB bandwidth per month. It also supports only one concurrent download. If you like the service and want to enjoy premium features then you can buy their premium package.

Overall, SMEStorage provides a simple way to transfer files from Google Drive to SkyDrive/ Dropbox or other services. In short, a normal PC users will find the free service sufficient enough to worth the hassle.