What is the problem you are having with rclone?
rclone 1.59 added logic to allow the --backup-dir to be in the root of the destination as long as it was excluded. Technically the release notes say 'filtered' ... sync: Overlap check is now filter-sensitive so --backup-dir can be in the root provided it is filtered (Nick) ... and tweaked in 1.59.1.
I brought this up a bit ago as a feature request, but got around it with a for loop. It's just painfully slow in this case and I know now that this is supposed to work. I'm hoping I'm miss-formatting the command but Β―\_(γ)_/Β―
Nothing I've tried allows me to get around the "Failed to sync: destination and parameter to --backup-dir mustn't overlap" error. I've tried as many possible permutations as I can think of with --exclude, --exclude-from and --filter-from. I'm noting the --exlude command as it seems the most straight-forward
Thanks in advance for any help.
Run the command 'rclone version' and share the full output of the command.
PS C:\> rclone version
rclone v1.63.0
- os/version: Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard (64 bit)
- os/kernel: 6.3.9600.20919 (x86_64)
- os/type: windows
- os/arch: amd64
- go/version: go1.20.5
- go/linking: static
- go/tags: cmount
Which cloud storage system are you using? (eg Google Drive)
SharePoint Online
The command you were trying to run (eg rclone copy /tmp remote:tmp)
rclone sync C:\SPO ROOT: --exclude zRecycle/** --backup-dir ROOT:zRecycle --progress
I've ensured that ...
rclone ls ROOT: --exclude zRecycle/**
... does not return the "zRecycle" folder or any of the test files in the folder
The rclone config contents with secrets removed.
[ROOT]
type = onedrive
token =
drive_id =
drive_type = documentLibrary
A log from the command with the -vv flag
Here's the clone with -vvv ... even though "--exclude zRecycle" is noted, there's no "DEBUG : zRecycle: Excluded" line :
PS C:\> rclone sync C:\SPO ROOT: --exclude zRecycle/** --backup-dir ROOT:zRecycle --progress -vvv
2023/07/12 02:38:01 DEBUG : rclone: Version "v1.63.0" starting with parameters ["C:\\Windows\\system32\\rclone.exe" "sync" "C:\\SPO" "ROOT:" "--exclude" "zRecycle/**" "--backup-dir" "ROOT:zRecycle" "--progress" "-vvv"]
2023/07/12 02:38:01 DEBUG : Creating backend with remote "C:\\SPO"
2023/07/12 02:38:01 DEBUG : Using config file from "C:\\Users\\user\\AppData\\Roaming\\rclone\\rclone.conf"
2023/07/12 02:38:01 DEBUG : fs cache: renaming cache item "C:\\SPO" to be canonical "//?/C:/SPO"
2023/07/12 02:38:01 DEBUG : Creating backend with remote "ROOT:"
2023-07-12 02:38:02 DEBUG : Creating backend with remote "ROOT:zRecycle"
2023-07-12 02:38:02 ERROR : Fatal error received - not attempting retries
Transferred: 0 B / 0 B, -, 0 B/s, ETA -
Errors: 1 (fatal error encountered)
Elapsed time: 4.4s
2023/07/12 02:38:02 INFO :
Transferred: 0 B / 0 B, -, 0 B/s, ETA -
Errors: 1 (fatal error encountered)
Here's the ls with -vvv ... here there's a "DEBUG : zRecycle: Excluded" and the "zRecycle" root directory is not returned:
PS C:\> rclone ls ROOT: --exclude zRecycle/** -vvv
2023/07/12 02:42:03 DEBUG : rclone: Version "v1.63.0" starting with parameters ["C:\\Windows\\system32\\rclone.exe" "ls" "ROOT:" "--exclude" "zRecycle/**" "-vvv"]
2023/07/12 02:42:03 DEBUG : Creating backend with remote "ROOT:"
2023/07/12 02:42:03 DEBUG : Using config file from "C:\\Users\\user\\AppData\\Roaming\\rclone\\rclone.conf"
2023/07/12 02:42:05 DEBUG : zRecycle: Excluded
39 FileinRoot01.txt
41 FileinRoot02.txt
2023/07/12 02:42:05 DEBUG : 5 go routines active