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Glossary

Migration terms, in plain English.

The jargon that comes up when you move file shares to SharePoint — defined without the hand‑waving.

NTFS permissions
The access rules on a Windows file server — who can read, write, modify or control each file and folder. They don't map one‑to‑one to SharePoint, so a migration has to translate them.
ACL (Access Control List)
The list of permission entries attached to a file or folder. Each entry grants or denies specific rights to a user or group.
Inheritance
When a folder passes its permissions down to its contents. "Broken inheritance" is when a folder has its own explicit permissions that override the parent — a common source of migration mess.
Deny rule
An explicit ACL entry that blocks access, overriding allow rules. Many migration tools silently drop Deny rules, quietly widening access.
SID (Security Identifier)
The unique ID Windows uses for a user or group behind the scenes. Permissions are really stored against SIDs, not names.
Orphaned SID
A SID left on an ACL after the user or group it belonged to was deleted. It can't be mapped to anyone, so it breaks permission translation and file attribution unless remediated.
Take ownership
Making an administrator the owner of files/folders so their permissions can be read and corrected — a prerequisite for cleaning up a neglected share.
VSS (Volume Shadow Copy)
A Windows feature that takes a consistent point‑in‑time snapshot of a volume — so files that are open or locked can still be copied. It's how Approdo captures in‑use files other tools skip.
Long path / MAX_PATH
Windows historically limited paths to 260 characters (MAX_PATH). SharePoint rejects a full URL over ~400 characters, so deep folder trees must be shortened or flattened before upload.
Flatten
Removing an unnecessary folder tier by moving its contents up a level — used to bring over‑length paths under SharePoint's limit.
Permission levels
SharePoint's model for access — Read, Edit, Full Control and so on — applied to groups. NTFS rights are mapped onto these during migration.
Metadata
The information about a file — created/modified dates, author, version history. A good migration preserves it rather than resetting everything to "today, migrated by admin".
SharePoint Migration API
Microsoft's dedicated, high‑throughput endpoint for importing content into SharePoint/OneDrive (via an Azure staging container and a manifest). It preserves metadata and versions — and it's what the serious tools, including Approdo, use.
SPMT (SharePoint Migration Tool)
Microsoft's free migration tool. It moves content but doesn't remediate permissions, long paths, locked files or SIDs.
Migration Manager
Microsoft's agent‑based migration feature in the SharePoint admin centre — free, but like SPMT it offers no remediation.
Delta migration
A follow‑up pass that copies only what changed since the last run — so you can pre‑migrate, then sync the final changes quickly at cutover.
Cutover
The moment you switch users from the old file server to SharePoint. A clean cutover follows a delta sync so nothing is missed.
Remediation
Fixing the data problems that break a migration — permissions, ownership, long paths, locked files, orphaned SIDs — before moving. Approdo's core difference: it's built into the migrator.

Want to see these on your own data?

When Approdo launches, the free assessment will show your permissions, long paths, locked files and orphaned SIDs — and what Approdo will do about each.

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