How to Move Files from Google Drive to PikPak (2026)

Why people move from Google Drive to PikPak, and when not to

The usual reason is a media library: video, courses, camera archives and downloads that fill a 15 GB Drive quickly and get played more than they get edited. PikPak's 10 TB Premium base and its in-browser playback with quality choices fit that use better than Drive does. The trade-offs are real. PikPak is not a collaboration suite, so Docs, Sheets and Slides stop being editable the moment they are exported. Its free tier is smaller than Drive's (6 GB against 15 GB). And its monthly upload quota, not your internet speed, decides how fast a large library can arrive. If most of what you keep in Drive is documents that other people edit, leave those in Drive and move only the media.

Google Drive vs PikPak: the numbers that matter for this move

Before you start

1. Measure what you are moving. In Drive, open Google One storage to see the total, then decide which folders actually belong in PikPak. Media, archives and PDFs move; shared documents usually should not.
2. Do the quota arithmetic. Divide the size by 1 TB to get the minimum number of calendar months at PikPak's basic upload quota, or budget for Extra Transfer Quota.
3. Choose the PikPak tier. A free account fits 6 GB and is subject to the 12-month inactivity rule; Premium fits libraries up to 10 TB.
4. Check the PikPak login. If you signed up with Google or Facebook, set a password first (avatar, Account and Security, Password), otherwise the direct connection has nothing to sign in with.
5. Find your largest file. Sort Drive by size. Anything close to 20 GB should be tested first, because PikPak's per-file cap for API uploads is not published.

Method 1: Download from Drive, upload to PikPak

Step 1: Download from drive.google.com

Select the folders in Drive, right-click and choose Download. Drive zips the selection, splits very large ones into several archives, and converts Docs, Sheets and Slides to Office formats inside the ZIP. Unzip everything locally.

Step 2: Upload with the PikPak desktop app

Sign in to PikPak and use the Upload button above the file list in the web client, or drag the folders into the desktop app. Use the desktop app for anything large: our PikPak connection notes record a 4 GB per-file limit in the web client and 20 GB in the desktop client. Every byte crosses your own connection twice, once down from Google and once up to PikPak, and the upload counts against PikPak's monthly upload limit of about 1 TB.

Method 2: rclone on a Mac or PC

Step 1: Configure two remotes

rclone supports both services. Run rclone config twice: choose drive and finish the browser authorization for Google, then choose pikpak and enter your PikPak email and password (rclone stores the password obscured). The rclone PikPak notes say PikPak keeps modification times, but warn that its MD5 checksums can come back empty. In August 2026 rclone's developers went further and reported that PikPak returns no MD5 at all for files rclone uploads (rclone issue 9826), so rclone cannot verify these copies by checksum.

Step 2: Dry run, copy, verify

rclone copy gdrive:Media pikpak:GDrive/Media --progress --dry-run
rclone copy gdrive:Media pikpak:GDrive/Media --progress
rclone check gdrive:Media pikpak:GDrive/Media --size-only

copy adds files and deletes nothing; sync would delete PikPak files that are missing in Drive, so avoid it here. The --size-only check is used because PikPak gives rclone no checksum to compare, so it confirms that files are present and the same size, not that every byte is identical. The transfer runs through the machine that runs rclone, so your bandwidth and uptime matter, and the upload still counts against PikPak's monthly upload limit. Google-native files are exported to Office formats by default.

Method 3: Server-side copy with CloudsLinker

CloudsLinker is a third-party web service that copies files between cloud accounts on its own servers. Nothing is downloaded to your computer, the browser tab can be closed once the task runs, and the same task can be scheduled to repeat. It reaches Google Drive through Google's public API and PikPak through your account credentials; neither company endorses it.

Step 1: Connect Google Drive (OAuth)

Sign in at app.cloudslinker.com, open Add Cloud and choose Google Drive. A Google window opens on accounts.google.com with the message "Choose an account to continue to cloudslinker". Pick the account that holds your files (or Use another account), then approve the access Google lists on the next screen, including permission to see, edit, create and delete your Drive files. Drive then appears under My Clouds. Your Google password is never entered in CloudsLinker.

Step 2: Connect PikPak (email and password)

Choose PikPak in Add Cloud and enter your PikPak email and password in the dialog. Accounts created through Google or Facebook need a password first (PikPak avatar, Account and Security, Password). The dialog also suggests WebDAV as a fallback if the direct connection fails. Do not use it for this job: PikPak's WebDAV option is read-only and cannot receive files.

Step 3: Choose folders, filters and schedule

Open Transfer. Under Source, tick the Google Drive account, or expand it and tick individual folders. Under Target, expand PikPak and select or create the destination folder, for example a folder called GDrive.

• Conflict strategy (the list under Options): by default a file is transferred only if its size differs or the date is more recent. You can also skip files with the same name, or force overwriting.
• Filter: switch it on, then open Files filter to include or exclude extensions and set a minimum and maximum file size in MB. A maximum below your PikPak per-file ceiling keeps oversized files out of a run.
• Schedule: switch it on to run Once, Weekly (weekdays and a time) or Monthly (a day). Scheduling is available on paid plans. Monthly runs on different folders are an easy way to stay under PikPak's upload limit.
• Skip Empty Folder is ticked by default, so empty folders are skipped.
• Copy or Move: keep Copy. Move deletes the files from Google Drive once they have been transferred.

Step 4: Start, monitor, verify

Click Create transfer. The job shows up under Task with file counts, completed bytes, speed and Cancel or Retry buttons. When it finishes, open PikPak and check a few folders, especially a large video, then decide whether to free space in Drive.

PikPak's upload limit, in plain words

PikPak limits how much you can upload in a month, not how many files. A basic account can upload about 1 TB per calendar month, and it counts whichever tool puts the files there: the PikPak app, rclone or CloudsLinker. When the month ends, the counter starts again. PikPak also lists separate download allowances (4 TB downstream and 40 TB cloud download), but they do not come into play when you move files in.

If your library is bigger than 1 TB, you have three options:

• Move it in slices. Put the folders you cannot lose in first and the bulk media later. With CloudsLinker each slice is one task with a different folder selection, or one Monthly schedule per group of folders.
• Buy more room. PikPak sells Extra Transfer Quota, and says it may also raise the basic allowance for some accounts.
• Wait for next month. The allowance starts over with the new calendar month.

The PikPak pages we read do not say what happens when you reach the limit, so leave some headroom instead of aiming for exactly 1 TB. Single files have their own size limit as well: our PikPak connection notes record about 4 GB in the web client and about 20 GB in the desktop app, and PikPak does not publish a limit for uploads from other tools, so try your biggest file first.

The three methods side by side

Things to check before you move

• Google-native files are exported, not copied. The result is a static .docx, .xlsx or .pptx in PikPak with no link back to the Google original.
• Sharing and comments do not travel. Drive share links, permissions, comments and version history belong to Drive. Re-share from PikPak if you need to.
• Copy first, delete later. The default Copy option leaves Drive untouched (Move deletes the source files after the transfer). Delete from Drive only after you have opened files in PikPak.
• A free PikPak account is a poor cold archive. Non-Premium accounts with no login for 12 consecutive months may enter deletion, with a 7-day grace period.
• Different revocations. Google access is an OAuth grant removed under your Google Account's Security settings; PikPak access is a password login, ended by deleting the connection in CloudsLinker and changing your PikPak password.

Sources: Google — Files you can store in Google Drive, Google — Storage and upload limits, PikPak — FAQ (storage, monthly quotas, inactive-account policy), PikPak — Transfer quota help, rclone — PikPak backend, rclone issue 9826 — PikPak MD5 hashes (August 2026). PikPak per-file upload limits are as recorded on our PikPak connection page. Prices are US list prices checked July 2026.

Related PikPak and Google Drive guides

• PikPak to Google Drive — the reverse direction.
• Download files from a PikPak shared link or shared folder — for links other people sent you.
• Is PikPak safe? — an assessment before you put your library there.
• MEGA to PikPak, OneDrive to PikPak and iCloud Drive to PikPak — the same PikPak-side steps from other clouds.
• Connector notes: PikPak and Google Drive.