rclone: Cloud Storage Made Simple

rclone is your go-to solution for efficiently copying files between any cloud storage services or local storage. Unlike downloading and re-uploading, rclone transfers happen directly between cloud providers at maximum speed, making it perfect for migrations and backups.

Getting Started

Installation

macOS:

brew install rclone

Linux:

sudo -v ; curl https://rclone.org/install.sh | sudo bash

Windows: Download from rclone.org/downloads

Verify Installation:

rclone version

Understanding Remotes

In rclone, a “remote” is a configured connection to a storage provider (like Google Drive, Dropbox, S3, etc.). Before you can transfer files, you need to set up at least one remote.

Think of it like this:

• gdrive: = Your configured Google Drive connection
• dropbox: = Your configured Dropbox connection
• Local paths = Just regular file paths like ~/Documents/

Configure Your First Remote

Start the configuration wizard:

rclone config

Interactive Setup:

n) New remote
d) Delete remote
r) Rename remote
c) Copy remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config

Choose: n

Example: Setting up Google Drive:

# Step 1: Give it a name (e.g., "gdrive" or "personal")
name> gdrive

# Step 2: Choose storage type
Storage> drive  # or type number for Google Drive

# Step 3: Leave client_id and client_secret blank (press Enter)
client_id>
client_secret>

# Step 4: Choose full access
scope> 1

# Step 5: Skip advanced config
Edit advanced config? n

# Step 6: Auto config (opens browser for authentication)
Use auto config? y
# Browser opens, log in to Google, grant permissions

# Step 7: Not a Shared Drive
Configure this as a team drive? n

# Step 8: Confirm
Yes this is OK> y

Quick Setup for Common Services:

Google Drive:

rclone config create gdrive drive
# Opens browser for authentication

Dropbox:

rclone config create dropbox dropbox
# Opens browser for authentication

Amazon S3:

rclone config create s3 s3 \
  provider AWS \
  access_key_id YOUR_ACCESS_KEY \
  secret_access_key YOUR_SECRET_KEY

Verify Your Remote

List all configured remotes:

rclone listremotes

Test the connection:

# List files in root of remote
rclone ls gdrive:/

# Check remote details
rclone about gdrive:

List directories:

rclone lsd gdrive:/

Our Recommended Command

rclone copy source:path destination:path -P --stats=5s

Understanding Each Flag

The Essential Combination: -P –stats=5s

• -P (Progress): Shows transfer progress and file count
  • Displays current file being transferred
  • Shows percentage of files completed
  • Allows resuming if interrupted (for compatible remotes)
• --stats=5s (Statistics): Updates transfer statistics every 5 seconds
  • Shows bytes transferred / total bytes with percentage
  • Displays current speed
  • Estimates time remaining (ETA)
• -v (Verbose): Optional - shows file-by-file transfer details
• --log-file (Logging): Write progress to a file for monitoring

Essential Commands

List Files and Directories:

# List all files with sizes
rclone ls gdrive:/

# List only directories
rclone lsd gdrive:/

# List with details (like ls -l)
rclone lsl gdrive:/

# Tree view
rclone tree gdrive:/folder

Check Space and Usage:

# Show storage quota and usage
rclone about gdrive:

# Get size of a folder
rclone size gdrive:/folder

Basic File Operations:

# Copy files (source stays intact)
rclone copy source:path dest:path -P

# Move files (removes from source)
rclone move source:path dest:path -P

# Sync (make dest identical to source)
rclone sync source:path dest:path -P

# Delete files
rclone delete gdrive:/folder/file.txt

# Remove empty directories
rclone rmdirs gdrive:/folder

Real-World Examples

Google Drive to Enterprise Account:

# Simple copy with progress
rclone copy personal:/ enterprise:/migrated-files -P --stats=5s

# With logging for background monitoring
rclone copy personal:/ enterprise:/migrated-files \
  --log-file=/tmp/migration.log \
  --stats=5s \
  --stats-log-level NOTICE \
  -v

Monitor Log File in Real-Time:

# In another terminal
tail -f /tmp/migration.log

# Or with auto-refresh every 2 seconds
watch -n 2 'tail -50 /tmp/migration.log'

Background Transfer:

# Start transfer and disconnect from terminal
nohup rclone copy personal:/ enterprise:/migrated-files \
  --log-file=/tmp/migration.log \
  --stats=5s \
  --stats-log-level NOTICE \
  -v > /dev/null 2>&1 &

# Check progress later
tail -f /tmp/migration.log

Cloud to Cloud (S3, Dropbox, OneDrive, etc.):

# Copy from Google Drive to AWS S3
rclone copy gdrive:/folder s3:/bucket-name -P --stats=5s

# Copy from Dropbox to AWS S3 (server-side, no local download)
rclone copy dropbox:/backup s3:/archive -P --stats=5s

Smart Backups with Filters:

# Copy excluding certain file types
rclone copy ~/source gdrive:/backup \
  --exclude '*.tmp' \
  --exclude 'node_modules/' \
  --exclude '.git/' \
  -P --stats=5s

# Copy only certain file types
rclone copy ~/source gdrive:/backup \
  --include '*.pdf' \
  --include '*.docx' \
  -P --stats=5s

Sync (Mirror) vs Copy:

# Copy - adds new/updated files (doesn't delete)
rclone copy source:/ dest:/ -P

# Sync - makes destination identical to source (deletes extra files!)
rclone sync source:/ dest:/ -P --delete

# IMPORTANT: Always use --dry-run before sync!
rclone sync source:/ dest:/ -P --delete --dry-run

Pro Tips

Always Use Dry-Run First:

# Test what will happen without making changes
rclone copy source:/ dest:/ --dry-run -vv

# Same for sync operations
rclone sync source:/ dest:/ --dry-run --delete -vv

Running on a Remote Server or VM:

# Start in background with nohup (stays running after disconnection)
nohup rclone copy source:/ dest:/ --stats=5s --log-file=/tmp/rclone.log -v &

# Check status from another SSH session
tail -f /tmp/rclone.log

# Stop the process
pkill -f "rclone copy"

Understanding Output:

Transferred: 1.2G / 5.6G (21%), 245 / 1200 files, ETA 15m 32s

• 1.2G / 5.6G (21%) = Data transferred vs total (percentage)
• 245 / 1200 files = Files transferred vs total
• ETA 15m 32s = Estimated time remaining

Checking Progress Without Verbose Output:

# Clean, simple progress display
rclone copy source:/ dest:/ -P --stats=10s

# Very verbose - see every file
rclone copy source:/ dest:/ -P -vv --stats=5s

Exclude Patterns:

# Exclude multiple patterns
rclone copy source:/ dest:/ \
  --exclude '*.tmp' \
  --exclude '.cache/**' \
  --exclude '__pycache__/**' \
  -P --stats=5s

Creative Use Cases

Automated Photo Organization:

# Sort photos by date into year/month folders
rclone copy ~/Photos gdrive:/organized-photos \
  --drive-upload-cutoff 128M \
  --transfers 8 \
  -P --stats=5s

Multi-Cloud Redundancy:

#!/bin/bash
# Backup to multiple cloud providers simultaneously
rclone copy ~/important-docs gdrive:/backup -P --stats=5s &
rclone copy ~/important-docs dropbox:/backup -P --stats=5s &
rclone copy ~/important-docs onedrive:/backup -P --stats=5s &
wait
echo "All backups completed!"

Encrypt Before Upload:

# Use rclone's built-in encryption
rclone copy ~/sensitive-files encrypted-remote:/secure-backup \
  -P --stats=5s
# Configure encrypted remote with: rclone config

Media Server Cloud Storage:

# Mount cloud storage as local directory
rclone mount gdrive:/media ~/cloud-media \
  --vfs-cache-mode writes \
  --daemon

# Access files at ~/cloud-media without downloading everything

Scheduled Incremental Backups:

#!/bin/bash
# Daily backup script (add to cron)
DATE=$(date +%Y-%m-%d)
rclone copy ~/Documents gdrive:/backups/$DATE/ \
  --max-age 24h \
  --log-file=/var/log/rclone-backup.log \
  -P --stats=5s

Archive Old Files to Cheap Storage:

# Move files older than 1 year to Glacier
rclone move gdrive:/active-files s3-glacier:/archive \
  --min-age 365d \
  -P --stats=5s --dry-run  # Remove --dry-run when ready

Stopping Background Transfers

Kill by process name:

# Gracefully stop the transfer
pkill -TERM -f "rclone copy"

# Immediate stop
pkill -f "rclone copy"

Kill by process ID:

# Find the process
ps aux | grep "rclone copy"

# Kill it (replace 12345 with actual PID)
kill 12345

If using jobs command:

# List background jobs
jobs

# Kill job 1
kill %1

Managing Remotes

List existing remotes:

rclone listremotes

Edit a remote:

rclone config update gdrive  # Update specific settings
# Or use interactive mode
rclone config
# Then choose: e) Edit existing remote

Delete a remote:

rclone config delete old-remote

Show config file location:

~/.config/rclone/rclone.conf

rclone config file

Password protect your config:

rclone config
# Choose: s) Set configuration password

Copy remote configuration to another machine:

# On first machine
cat ~/.config/rclone/rclone.conf

# On second machine, create same file with contents
# Or copy the file directly

Troubleshooting Tips

• Test First: Always use --dry-run before important transfers
• Check Permissions: Ensure you have access to both source and destination
• Monitor Progress: Use --stats=5s to track transfer in real-time
• Handle Large Files: Rclone automatically chunks large uploads
• Network Issues: Rclone handles transient failures gracefully
• Rate Limits: Google Drive has 750GB/day per account limit
• Config Issues: Run rclone config reconnect gdrive: to refresh authentication

If Transfer Fails:

# For compatible cloud services, re-run the same command
# It will skip already-transferred files and continue
rclone copy source:/ dest:/ -P --stats=5s

# Note: Resume depends on the remote type (works best with Google Drive)

Verbose Debugging:

# Maximum detail - use multiple -v flags
rclone copy source:/ dest:/ --dry-run -vvv --log-file=/tmp/debug.log

Key Differences from rsync

Feature	rsync	rclone
Local Files	✓	✓
Cloud Storage	✗	✓ (70+ providers)
Bandwidth Efficient	✓ (delta sync)	Limited (copies whole files)
Resume Capability	✓	Depends on remote type
Server-Side Transfer	✗	✓ (cloud to cloud)
Compression	✓	Limited
Encryption	✗	✓ (built-in)

Common Issues and Solutions

“Failed to create file system” Error:

# Check if remote exists
rclone listremotes

# Test connection
rclone lsd remote-name:

# Reconfigure if needed
rclone config reconnect remote-name:

Token Expired:

# Refresh the authentication
rclone config reconnect gdrive:
# Browser opens for re-authentication

Slow Transfers:

# Increase parallel transfers
rclone copy source:/ dest:/ \
  --transfers=16 \
  --checkers=32 \
  -P --stats=5s

# Use compression for slow connections
rclone copy source:/ dest:/ --compress -P

Can’t Find Config File:

# Show config location
rclone config file

# Create new config if missing
rclone config

Supported Cloud Providers

rclone supports 70+ storage providers including:

• Cloud Storage: Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Box, pCloud
• Object Storage: Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, Azure Blob, Backblaze B2
• File Hosting: Mega, Yandex Disk, Mail.ru Cloud
• Servers: SFTP, FTP, WebDAV, HTTP
• Local: Local filesystem, SMB/CIFS

Full list: rclone.org/overview

Quick Reference Card

Command	Purpose
rclone config	Set up remotes
rclone listremotes	Show configured remotes
rclone ls remote:	List files
rclone lsd remote:	List directories
rclone copy src: dst:	Copy files
rclone sync src: dst:	Mirror (deletes extras)
rclone move src: dst:	Move files
rclone delete remote:path	Delete files
rclone about remote:	Show storage info
rclone mount remote: /path	Mount as filesystem

Prerequisites

• rclone installed: brew install rclone or visit rclone.org/install
• At least one remote configured: rclone config
• Cloud storage account(s) with valid credentials
• Network access to cloud provider
• Sufficient quota/storage space
• Appropriate permissions on both source and destination