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Azraf TaohidA.T.

Get-started with Rclone

2 min read

Introduction

Rclone is a command-line program to manage files on cloud storage. It is a feature-rich alternative to cloud vendors’ web storage interfaces.

Documentations on Rclone can be found here.

Basic syntax

Rclone commands use the following syntax:

rclone subcommand [options] <parameters...>

Where, sub-command can be copy, move, bisync, etc and options may be remote:path. Parameters may define various behaviors e.g., filtering, resync mode, logging, etc.

Setup

Download and install the appropriate executable from rclone website. For Ubuntu, on my system, it is on row Intel/AMD - 64 Bit and column .deb.

Configure

To begin using Rclone, a remote (reference to a cloud service or local storage location) needs to be configured.

Run the following command to launch the interactive config wizard:

rclone config

While each storage provider has different configuration options, their general form is:

  • Name the remote — any name (e.g., gdrive, onedrive, dropbox)
  • Choose a storage type — select from a list of supported cloud providers or local
  • Authorize access — follow login instructions for the chosen provider
  • Save and exit — once setup is complete, the remote is ready for use

Verify by running:

rclone listremotes

Common commands

Here are some frequently used Rclone commands:

rclone ls remote:path                 # List contents of a remote
rclone copy source:path remote:path   # Copy from source to destination
rclone sync source:path remote:path   # Sync source to destination
rclone move source:path remote:path   # Move files
rclone mount remote:path /mount/point # Mount remote as a filesystem
rclone ncdu remote:path               # Explore remote on terminal

Useful flags

  • --dry-run — show what would happen without making changes
  • --progress — display real-time transfer progress
  • --transfers=N — limit number of concurrent file transfers
  • --exclude "*.tmp" — exclude specific files
  • --log-level INFO — set verbosity (DEBUG, INFO, ERROR, etc.)

Notes

  • Use rclone help or rclone help <command> for quick reference.
  • Configuration is stored in ~/.config/rclone/rclone.conf (Linux/macOS) or %APPDATA%\rclone\rclone.conf (Windows).

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