How to Migrate from Google Drive to Backblaze B2
· 3 min read · Updated
Google Drive is a collaboration tool with storage built in, and Backblaze B2 is storage built for scale. People usually move data from one to the other for one or more of these reasons:
- Google One charges $100 a year for 2 TB, and Backblaze B2 charges $6.95 per TB a month. For archives or backups you rarely open, the math works differently: if you store 5 TB or more of media, raw footage or project archives, B2 can be much cheaper, depending on how often you read the data back.
- B2 has S3-compatible API access, so you can use it with backup tools, CDNs, media workflows and your own applications. Google Drive's API is more limited for bulk operations.
- A copy of your Google Drive data in B2 means you do not depend on a single provider. If Google changes its prices, restricts your account or has an outage, your files are still somewhere else.
Google Drive keeps Docs, Sheets and Slides in Google's own formats, which cannot be downloaded as files. To use them outside Google, they have to be converted to Office formats first.
Google Takeout can export your Drive, but it takes hours, splits the export into zip archives, and flattens your folder structure. For B2 it is also roundabout: you download everything, extract it, then upload it to B2 with a separate tool.
Blober reads from Google Drive and writes to Backblaze B2, converting files on the way. Google Docs become .docx files, Sheets become .xlsx and Slides become .pptx during the transfer. Photos, videos, PDFs and other regular files copy as they are, and your folder structure is rebuilt in the B2 bucket. Files other people shared with you are in a "Shared with me" virtual folder, so you can include them too.
- Add Google Drive as a provider in Blober and sign in through your browser (OAuth).
- Add Backblaze B2 with your Application Key ID and Application Key. Blober detects each bucket's region for you.
- Create a workflow with Google Drive as the source and B2 as the destination, then browse and select the files or folders to move.
- Run it. Blober streams the files from Google Drive to B2 through your computer, with no intermediate copies on your disk.
| Google One (2 TB) | Backblaze B2 (2 TB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $8.33 | ~$14 |
| Annual | $100 | ~$167 |
| 5 TB | $25/month (Google One Premium) | ~$35/month |
| 10 TB+ | Not available on consumer plans | ~$70/month |
| Egress | Free (via Drive sync/download) | Free up to 3x stored |
For small amounts of data you work on every day, Google Drive is the better deal. For large archives, backups and media libraries you rarely open, B2's pay-for-what-you-use pricing works out better.
Many people do not leave Google Drive completely. They keep it for active collaboration, such as shared documents and team folders, and move everything else to B2:
- Current projects stay in Google Drive for real-time editing
- Completed projects, old photos and archives go to Backblaze B2
- You run the transfer once in Blober, then adjust your Google storage plan
Does Backblaze B2 cost less than Google One? Not at 2 TB, where Google One is $100 a year and B2 about $167. B2 charges $6.95 per TB a month for what you store, so it suits large archives you rarely open, and Google's consumer plans do not offer 10 TB or more.
Do I need Google Takeout to move Drive to B2? No. Blober reads your Drive directly, converts Docs, Sheets and Slides to Office files, and streams everything to your bucket with the folders intact, so there are no zip archives to download and extract.
Can I keep using Google Drive after moving archives to B2? Yes. A common setup keeps current projects in Drive for real-time editing and moves finished projects, old photos and archives to B2.