Migrating Data Only

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Overview

Box Shuttle acts as an intermediary between various content management systems, enabling you to transfer folders, files, permissions, and standard metadata from these platforms to Box. You have two options to migrate your data:

• Migrate data only: migrates files and folders from a selected source path of an account or folder to the selected target location without applying permissions.
• Migrate data with permissions: transfers files and folders and creates collaborations to reflect source permissions. This type of migration job is suitable for comprehensive management of files, accounts, and privileges throughout the entire data migration process.

This guide provides instructions on how to migrate data only. For migrating data with permissions, see Data migration with permissions.

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Create a new job

To create a new job, select Migrate Data from the New Job drop-down menu.

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Select source system

Select the source system that holds the data you want to migrate. If you don’t have an existing source system available, set it up using Source system configuration instructions. Box Shuttle cannot alter or modify your source data.

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Map files and folders

A settings page precedes this step and asks how you want to map. Select Map Data manually to map each item in Box Shuttle, as described below, or map a large number of directories at once with bulk mapping with a spreadsheet. For each source account or folder you want to migrate, select the target account and folder that receives the data. When you select a folder, Box Shuttle migrates that folder or account along with every file and folder inside it. You can, however, deselect specific subfolders or files you don’t want migrated. To select the target location, select Choose Target Location to open a panel in which you can choose the target Box account. You can map the entire account, or a specific folder or file in this account. You can also create a new folder within that account. The icon hides the rows without any mapping defined.

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Set parent directory

You can set a parent directory that Box Shuttle creates in each target location for the migrated content. To do so:

1. Select the folder icon next to the search bar.
2. Enter the name for the parent directory and confirm.

The mapping indicators next to the mapped folders help you to map the folders effectively. Actions you perform at the child folder level are indicated at the parent folder level. For example:

1. A source folder is explicitly mapped to a folder in a target account. One of the child folders or files is also redirected to a target folder in a different account, so a redirect icon displays at the parent folder level.
2. This source folder was redirected to a different target account, and a child folder or file was skipped.
3. This folder was skipped and is not migrated.

Item	Level of display	Description
	Folder	An item in a specific folder is explicitly included in the migration. This file is migrated, even though the folder is not.
	Folder	Files in the folder were skipped. These files are not migrated.
	Folder, Account	An item in the folder was redirected to a different folder or account.
	Folder, Account	A file or files in one of the child folders are explicitly included in the migration. Icon displayed when you select files in several folders.
	File, Folder, Account	Clears the mapping from source to target.
	File, Folder, Account	Opens the list with target account folders. Use it to: Select a different folder Rename the folder
	File, Folder, Account	Skips the file in the folder. This file is not migrated.
	File, Folder, Account	Includes the skipped file in the migration.

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Choose migration type

After you are done with the mapping, select Migrate Data Only from the available options.

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Define filters and additional settings

• Filter settings enable you to further specify which folders and files to include in the migration or exclude from the process.
  • Standard Filter settings ignore temp and system files, and migrate everything else.
  • Advanced Filter settings filter the content on the basis of a regular expression, date, or size.
• File versions settings enable you to choose whether to migrate the most recent version only, or all versions of the file.
  • If you select Current Version on the initial transfer, Box Shuttle transfers only the most recent version. Even if you select All Versions on a subsequent run of the job, Box Shuttle cannot transfer any versions that precede that most recent version.
  • If you need past versions, select All Versions on your first job run.
  • Once you start migrating data with a given version setting, do not change that setting within the job.

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Define run settings

In the Run Settings section you can specify the following items:

• Bandwidth to manage the upload speed (for Windows sources only).
• Mirror Deletions if you want to delete the files from the target location if they are no longer available in the source.

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Verify data

During the pre-run validation you can see the summary including the data you want to migrate and the job settings to verify if they are correct before proceeding with the migration. To make changes, select the breadcrumbs menu at the top to go back to the part you want to change.

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Run simulation

Simulations give you an estimate on runtime and check for potential issues or errors before you migrate your data. This is an important step to validate your migration configuration, and Box recommends running a simulation before performing a transfer to encourage positive migration outcomes. Some simulation incompatibilities for Box include files larger than the maximum size supported and filtered system files, such as thumbs.db or other similar extensions. Simulations detect many, but not all, of the potential errors in a transfer job.

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When to run a simulation

• After setting up your first job
• When you make job configuration changes
• If data on your source or Box target changes significantly, including data being moved or renamed
• Before migrating permissions

Selecting Run Simulation starts the process. This can take anywhere from a few minutes to several days, depending on how much content there is to analyze. Once a simulation is complete, view the results of the estimated job details similar to an analysis job. Preview the simulation results to make the live transfer a more seamless experience. When the simulation job has finished, the reports tell you what files and how many bytes of data would have been transferred, and what files, if any, would be deleted. Additionally, the simulation:

• Identifies the size of content on the source, the number of files, and total bytes.
• Assesses how many files and bytes transfer during synchronization runs, and identifies which files transfer during the sync. This is helpful for evaluating whether to run the sync.
• Identifies and troubleshoots transfer errors quickly, such as Access denied, when comparing results to a direct transfer. Simulation jobs also help evaluate drive and network connectivity problems.
• Provides an estimated time to complete a data migration, and potential congestion issues impacting transfer speed.

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Run transfer

Selecting Run Transfer starts the migration process. After it is finished, you can examine the results.

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Schedule migration

You can schedule a job to run at a given time and re-run it at configurable intervals. For more details on scheduling, see Scheduling jobs.

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Notifications and reporting

Box notifications keep you informed of the status and progress of your Box Shuttle jobs. Reports created after each analysis, simulation, and migration job provide detailed information about job performance estimates and migrated or analyzed files and folders. See Introducing Box Shuttle for details.