methods and systems for the in - place or post - facto migration of data to a cloud - based data storage service or other virtual storage environment , include a cloud storage import utility device having a file selection module and configured to generate a user interface . the user interface allows a storage administrator to select one or more files , file folders , or shares to be published to the cloud and optionally migrated from a current storage device to another storage service , and for providing an indication of the selection . the csiu is configured to capture metadata for the selected files or file folders . the csiu also provides one or more commands understandable by the cloud - based data storage service , to migrate the metadata to the cloud - based data storage service independently of the files or file folders , so that they are usable by the cloud - based storage service without being moved to the cloud - based storage service .