Migration - Total Vault

From External drives.

The most common starting point — and the one that gets handled by Vault best. Drag, drop, and walk away.

Plug in a drive.

Connect the first drive you want to back up. Anything works — USB-C, Thunderbolt, ancient FireWire, doesn't matter.

Drag the folder into Vault.

Open Vault, create a new project, and drop the drive's folder onto the upload zone. Vault chunks it, hashes it, and starts uploading.

Tip: Name the project after the year or studio season so it's easy to find later.

Walk away.

Uploads resume after sleep, network drops, and tab closes. Come back, plug in the next drive, repeat.

Pro tip: Vault has a desktop migration helper for drives over 5 TB. Reach out to vault-support@totalwed.com and we’ll set it up — free.

From Google Drive.

Two paths — direct connect (we pull from Drive for you) or local download. Both work; the direct connect is faster for archives over 500 GB.

Connect your Drive account.

In Vault settings → Migrations, sign in to Google. We request read-only access; we never write to your Drive.

Pick what to migrate.

Choose entire folders or specific years. Vault shows a size estimate so you know what you're committing to.

All transfers happen server-to-server. Your bandwidth is not used.

Disconnect when done.

Once the migration finishes, revoke our Drive access in your Google security settings. Vault has copies now; we don't need your Drive anymore.

Heads up:Drive’s preview-only files (e.g. converted Google Docs) come over as the original format. Files Google compressed for preview are pulled at full resolution.

From Dropbox.

Same flow as Drive — direct connect or local download. Vault treats Dropbox as a source, not a substitute.

Connect Dropbox.

In Vault settings → Migrations, sign in with Dropbox. Read-only access; we never touch your Dropbox files.

Select folders to migrate.

Choose top-level folders or specific projects. Vault preserves your folder structure exactly.

Shared folders count toward your Dropbox quota, not ours — only what you own gets migrated.

Cancel Dropbox (when ready).

Once Vault confirms every file matched on integrity check, you can wind down your Dropbox subscription.

From iCloud.

Apple doesn't offer a direct connect option, so iCloud migration uses a local-download bridge. Easiest on a Mac with the Photos app.

Download originals to your Mac.

In Photos → Preferences → iCloud, switch to "Download Originals to this Mac." Wait for the download (large libraries can take hours).

Export the library.

File → Export → Export Unmodified Originals. Choose a folder on your drive to save to.

Vault preserves all EXIF and date metadata. AI search works on the unmodified originals.

Drag the exported folder into Vault.

Same as external drives: create a project, drop the folder, walk away. Vault handles the rest.

From WeTransfer.

WeTransfer isn't an archive — it's a hot link that expires. If you've been using it as one, here's how to land back on solid ground.

List every active transfer.

Sign in to WeTransfer Pro and pull a list of every transfer you've sent or received. Sort by expiry — anything within 7 days is urgent.

Download what matters.

Download every transfer you'd actually want to keep. Most studios find half the transfers can be deleted outright.

Tip: Group by client or wedding before downloading so they're easy to organize in Vault.

Drop the lot into Vault.

Create one project per client and drop their folder in. Now they're permanent, searchable, and never expire.

Need help with a big migration?

For archives over 10 TB, we’ll send a hardware uploader to your studio for free. Your files leave your drives and land in Vault in days, not weeks.

Talk to our migration team

Move your archive in one weekend.