Safely copy a huge amount of data from Sharepoint to a local drive

Question

How can we safely copy a huge amount of data from Sharepoint to a local drive without losing data?

Many thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Hi @AUMANN Gottfried ,

good days! Welcome to posting there.

When you need to copy a large volume of data from SharePoint without risking data loss, you have several approaches – each with its own trade‑offs in terms of metadata preservation, automation, and error handling. Here are the most common and proven methods:

1. OneDrive Sync Client

Use the OneDrive sync client to synchronize your SharePoint document library to a local folder. This method downloads the files and keeps them in sync with SharePoint.

Pros:

• Easy to set up and use.
• Automatically handles resumable downloads and retry logic.
• Suitable if your primary goal is to copy file content.

Cons:

• It typically does not include version history or all metadata (such as custom columns).
• Syncing a huge number of files might require careful monitoring to ensure complete synchronization.

2. PowerShell

You can use a PowerShell script to iterate through a SharePoint library and download files programmatically.

Pros:

• Automate the download process.

Cons:

• Requires scripting knowledge and thorough testing before running on large datasets.
• You’ll need to ensure that your script accounts for throttling or network interruptions.

References：

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/788342/powershell-script-to-download-specific-folders-fro

https://www.sharepointdiary.com/2017/03/sharepoint-online-download-all-files-from-document-library-using-powershell.html

Non-official, just for reference.

3. Third‑Party Migration Tools

Tools like ShareGate, Metalogix, or AvePoint are designed for large‑scale migrations and backups. They can copy not only the files but also preserve metadata, version histories, and permissions.

Pros:

• Built‑in error handling and logging to help ensure a “safe” copy.
• Often support scheduling, throttling, and even delta‐migrations (only copying new or changed files).

Cons:

• These tools usually require additional licensing and investment.
• They may have a learning curve and require configuration to work across many sites.

Regardless of the method chosen, always perform a test run with a smaller subset of your data, verify file counts, sizes, and—if possible—file hashes or checksums before proceeding with the full migration.

Hope this information helps.

Please do let us know if you have any further queries.

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