Mastering Microsoft 365: Why You Should NOT Move Your Files Out of BuckeyeBox on Your Own

As people are working to get use to OneDrive and Teams, we have received questions about whether you should move files yourself.

Early project documentation encouraged users to move files themselves, but we’ve learned doing that can create headaches for those who have a significant amount of data to move. Do-it-yourself movers have found that some files didn’t copy correctly and others didn’t show up at all. Here are a couple other reason why we recommend that you wait for OCIO to copy files to OneDrive for you. By moving your files, OCIO is...

1. Bringing more resources: OCIO is using a minimum of 10 servers and partnering with an outside vendor to move everything over a period of several months, so clearly that’s more “horsepower” than your personal computer can offer. If you download more than 15 GB at one time, Box will convert the files into a .zip file before the download, which adds a step for you to save them wherfe you want them.
2. Reducing Risk of Data Loss: OCIO is COPYING files from BuckeyeBox and saving them into OneDrive. This prevents data loss, because the files still exist on BuckeyeBox. You will have read-only access to the original file in BuckeyeBox until the end of the calendar year. You can download files if again if you cannot find a file after you re-organize on OneDrive. 
3. Retaining Internal Collaborations: We will retain internal collaborations if we move your files. If you move your own files, you will have to re-establish any collaborations you have with internal users manually. Regardless of how files are moved, you will need to re-connect with external collaborators.

We do recommend you start using OneDrive and Teams more often. Here are some tips:

• Begin New Projects in OneDrive or Teams. A large organization like Ohio State has new projects beginning all the time. If you need to set up collaboration for a new project, try using OneDrive or Teams to help yourself and your teams get acquainted with these platforms.
• If you must move, move a little at a time. If you move files, download and then move files into OneDrive or Teams. You are more likely to be successful if you move one or two folders at a time, or – for very large files – one file at a time. If you move anything yourself, after you move it and are sure it is functional and saved where you can find it, either add a date to the copy now saved on OneDrive or consider deleting the file on BuckeyeBox. When OCIO moves your files, we will move everything so if you move anything yourself beforehand, you will have multiple copies of the file. If the OneDrive file you moved has a date as part of the file name, it will be easier to distinguish the newer file from the older version.
• Focus on files you are likely to want to move to Teams. OCIO will place copies of all BuckeyeBox files that you own into your OneDrive account. One way to decide what to move first, and on your own, is to focus on projects that you know are more suited to Microsoft Teams. Then you can focus on creating the Team, inviting necessary collaborators, downloading files, and building a file structure in that Team. To help you decide which tool is best suited to a project, Microsoft has a help article with a chart comparing Teams and OneDrive (to keep things simple, disregard SharePoint information).
• If you move shared files, delete copies from BuckeyeBox. As we will be working in three platforms -- Teams, OneDrive and BuckeyeBox – for several months, be sure you don’t have the same file on more than one platform. If you move the working copy of a shared file to OneDrive or Teams, delete it on BuckeyeBox and be sure everyone with access knows where to find the current file to avoid having multiple versions.

Again, if this sounds too complicated to manage, please wait until your department’s migration period arrives and OCIO will copy your files from BuckeyeBox into OneDrive for you.