How to copy vhd disks from one Azure Subscription to Another

If you have every had to download a vhd from one subscription and upload it to another subscription, you probably know that it’s a slow process that depends on your local bandwidth and especially your upload speed. I recently had to do this and it took about 15 minutes to download and over an hour to upload. Then I discovered a little secret.

If you use the Azure Storage Explorer app, you can literally copy the Disk Name from one Resource Group and Paste the Disk Name to another Resource Group in a different Subscription, and it will transfer the disk in seconds.

Go check it out…

From the Azure Storage Explorer, Open the Subscription node, and browse to Managed Disks and open a Resource Group. then select a disk and hit the Copy button from the toolbar. Browse to a different Subscription, and browse to Managed Disks again and open or create a new Resource Group. From within that Resource Group, click the Paste Icon.

For me I was able to transfer a 30 GB disk in about 15 seconds.

That’s aweseome!