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I have a folder with thousands of files in Google Drive. Now I want to move this folder to another user's Google Drive. First I changed the owner of the root folder but that didn't apply to the files in that folder (very confusing). Now I select a bunch of files, click the share-button and then "Transfer ownership" and finally opens the receiving account where I accept the transfer of ownership.

I have been doing this for a week because after a while I get an error message that I have exceeded my sharing quota.

What is weird is that the number of files I can transfer per day varies a lot:

  • nov 12 999
  • nov 13 800
  • nov 14 748
  • nov 15 387
  • nov 16 481

What is going on here? What is the limit for how many files you share/transfer ownership of per day? Is there a workaround (e.g., something in the "app store) that allows me to transfer all files in one go?

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3 Answers 3

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Other options for changing ownership of Google Drive files:

The method of cross-domain transfer while preserving file IDs using Google Shared Drives is well described here.

Summary:

  1. Setup Google Shared Drive.
    Start by creating a Shared Drive within the domain where you want to own the file.

  2. Loop in previous and desired owners.
    Make sure the current owner and desired new owner are both members of the Shared Drive.

  3. Neutralize files' ownership in the Shared Drive.
    The original owner moves the files to the Shared Drive, automatically transferring ownership to the organization that owns the Shared Drive.

  4. Assign new ownership.
    The new owner can pull the files from the Shared Drive onto their own drive to gain ownership.

If you do not have access to Google Workspace (former G Suite), you can take advantage of ready-made solutions available in the Google Workspace Marketplace and also available here as a web application.

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If you receive the error "Sorry, you have exceeded your sharing quota" whilst transferring ownership of a large numbers of files, you can switch your IP address using a VPN.

I received that error message after transferring 3,000+ files. Once I connected my VPN to another country, the message disappeared and I transferred another 2,800 files without issue.

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  • This approach would benefit from links to supporting information and corroboration. It seems counterintuitive given that presumably the throttle is for the Google account to throttle users who are exceeding quotas, rather than the IP address. I would expect the block to follow the account wherever it logs in and you are self-identifying in the new country. If the throttle is instead a measure to protect endusers from abuse by malicious actors, then it would be as concerning for Google, if not more so, that after being blocked you suddenly hopped across the world.
    – Blindspots ♦
    Commented May 3 at 16:26
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Google has not disclosed how the limit for ownership transfer is set. In the past, several opportunities on online forums and meetings with end-users that I was invited Googlers from the Google Drive team and others teams mentioned that some limits are not disclosed to avoid abuse.

Perhaps the limits published in Google Workspace Admin might help you

https://support.google.com/a/answer/172541?hl=en

Drive upload limits

Individual users can only upload 750 GB each day between My Drive and all shared drives. Users who reach the 750-GB limit or upload a file larger than 750 GB cannot upload additional files that day. Uploads that are in progress will complete. The maximum individual file size that you can upload or synchronize is 5 TB.

Considering the above, instead of looking at the number of files that were transferred each day, you should look at the storage space used by those files.

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  • Thank you. The files are generally quite small 136 MB for 14 000 files, so far from the size limit described in your quote.
    – d-b
    Commented Aug 16, 2023 at 7:00

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