how to sync with google drive?

[ChrisHolzer]

rclone is not rsync, and I'm not sure how much, if anything, the two have in common. The sync with rclone is one-way, so if I do rclone sync sourcedir/ gdrive:destdir/, it's going to make destdir look like sourcedir. Files in destdir that aren't in sourcedir, as I understand it, would be deleted. If you used rclone copy instead, those files wouldn't be deleted, but they also wouldn't be copied to sourcedir.

Yes, they do get deleted as I just noticed during a test.

So I am no longer sure that rclone will actually do what I want, because "sync" will always make the destination look like the source.

So if I run the "sync from local -> cloud" then I would lose pictures that were uploaded by my phones.
While when I run "sync from cloud -> local" then I would lose all new data that I stored locally since the last sync.

It seems like rclone does not offer the "comfort" of the OneDrive client software as it's "sync" will completely ignore/delete any new files on the target dir. Or am I missing something obvious? :S

 

[danb35]

Or am I missing something obvious? :S

Use copy instead of sync?

 

[ChrisHolzer]

Use copy instead of sync?

That does not work either because it does not sync file/folder deletions.

"Copy the source to the destination. Doesn’t transfer unchanged files, testing by size and modification time or MD5SUM. Doesn’t delete files from the destination."

Let me explain why this is an issue:
1. my phone uploads pictures to OneDrive
2. my local OneDrive client receives the new pictures
3. I create a new folder and move some pictures into that folder
4. the OneDrive client updates the cloud with that change (uploads the folder, pictures moved to that folder, pictures in old location get deleted).

rclone copy will just copy the new folder to OneDrive, while not deleting the pictures from the old dir.

Same problem when I do the changes directly in OneDrive (app or through the website). rclone copy would only download the new folder while not removing the local copy of the pictures that were moved to that folder.

It seems like with rclone I will always end up in a state where changes get reverted/not carried over.

 

[pr4499]

Hey @danb35 looks like you have a lot of experience with FreeNas and rsync and rclone.

I'm in a similar situation to the OP, I have a client who wants to sync their FreeNas withe Google Drive. As in sync, not just copy one way. Some of the time they're at the work place where the FreeNas resides, some times they work remotely, with which they want to use Google Drive. They want this because it's what they had before when they had a Synology NAS.

1) Is this the easiest way to achieve what they want?
2) Will your instructions make it so that changes on either FreeNas or Google Drive will sync in both directions?
3) There is another option of setting up a VPN tunnel to their work place, but I think that might be a little slower and possibly more problematic (less reliable) than one of the other options
4) Would OwnCloud be a better solution than using Google Drive sync?
5) I notice here https://doc.freenas.org/11/tasks.html#cloud-sync that there is a new feature called Cloud Sync, but I am concerned with the section about "Push" and "Pull" which seems to mean that, again, it's not really sync - it's actually just copy in one direction. Can you please clarify this for us?

 

[danb35]

Hey @danb35 looks like you have a lot of experience with FreeNas and rsync and rclone.

Lots with FreeNAS, some with rclone, very little with rsync.

2) Will your instructions make it so that changes on either FreeNas or Google Drive will sync in both directions?

No. As far as I can tell (and it's entirely possible I'm missing something), rclone only syncs in one direction. When you do a sync operation, rclone makes the destination look like the source--any files on the source that aren't on the destination are copied; any files on the destination that aren't on the source are deleted.

Would OwnCloud be a better solution than using Google Drive sync?

Quite possibly, though I favor Nextcloud over Owncloud. It also means you're in control of your own data.

there is a new feature called Cloud Sync,

The "cloud sync" feature uses rclone as its back end.

 

[pr4499]

Thanks for the prompt and clear reply @danb35

I did a little bit of research on these two a little while back and from what I remember, OwnCloud is free and NextCloud is a fork of OwnCloud that now charges for the privilege, is that right? NextCloud looks pretty damn good, but we're looking for a free option for this one. Why do you favour NextCloud? Are there any major flaws or missing features with OwnCloud? I don't have any experience with either so feel free to be brutally honest about both!

 

[danb35]

OwnCloud is free and NextCloud is a fork of OwnCloud that now charges for the privilege, is that right?

No. Nextcloud is a fork of Owncloud, but the charges are only for support. I believe, but haven't followed Owncloud closely for a couple of years, that Owncloud does charge for "premium" features.

 

[pr4499]

No. Nextcloud is a fork of Owncloud, but the charges are only for support. I believe, but haven't followed Owncloud closely for a couple of years, that Owncloud does charge for "premium" features.

Thanks for that. This answers one of my questions, any ideas on the others?

 

[danb35]

A Google for "Owncloud vs Nextcloud" will find logs of information on this question.