Cannot figure out how to get Rclone to sync folders on my W10 PC to Google Drive while the folders on GDrive to be encypted?

Hello, sorry if this is not the right place to ask this, but i’m kinda beat.

I just bought a 1TB Google drive plan, and i’m planning on backing up and syncing some folders on my desktop(document folder, desktop etc) but how can I do so in a way, where I can backup the folders to Google drive but they are encrypted in google drive? And a way where it can sync up the folder so I don’t have to upload the whole folder every time I change or update something on my PC? I setup a remote and linked it to Google Drive, now i’m completely lost

You have to create an encrypted remote in your google drive. See: https://rclone.org/crypt/. Run rclone config and follow the steps.

You have the answer yourself: use the sync command. See: https://rclone.org/commands/rclone_sync/

Sorry but I am completely lost here. I just setup the remote and linked my Google Drive, now what do I do?

You probably created your remote on google drive as unencrypted, which is correct.

You should now create a new encrypted remote pointing to a folder in your remote created in google drive.

See how my rclone.conf file looks (in this case with Dropbox):

[MyDropbox]
type = dropbox
app_key = 
app_secret = 
token = {"access_token":"............."}

[MyDropbox_crypt]
type = crypt
remote = MyDropbox:folder_encrypted
filename_encryption = off
password = ..............
password2 = ..............

Therefore, all the files that I transfer to MyDropbox_crypt will be stored encrypted in the folder folder_encrypted in my dropbox account.

I’m lost. Okay, please do not be vague… this is my first time using a command prompt like this. I created a encrypted remote I believe, now what? If possible please do a step by step i’m completely lost

Ok, so from the beginning: you used the rclone config command to create the remote, right? Then a configuration file rclone.conf was created. Paste here the contents of this file (without the passwords!) and I will indicate the next step.

Where exactly do I get the rclone.conf file? (Sorry for so many questions)

Which OS you are using?

Windows 10, latest update

So you’ll probably find it in:

C:\Users\[your user name]\.config\rclone

Thank you, here’s the config

[gdrive]
type = crypt
client_id =
client_secret =
scope = drive
root_folder_id =
service_account_file =
token =[edited out]
remote = secure
filename_encryption = standard
directory_name_encryption = true
password = [edited out]
password2 = [edited out]

Then you have a remote named gdrive, encrypted (type = crypt) and pointing to a remote named “secure”. Did you create this “secure” remote?

Yes I did, but I may have not saved it… here’s what appears when I do rclone config

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.17134.137]
© 2018 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Daniel>cd\

C:>cd rclone

C:\rclone>rclone config
Current remotes:

Name Type
==== ====
gdrive crypt

e) Edit existing remote
n) New remote
d) Delete remote
r) Rename remote
c) Copy remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
e/n/d/r/c/s/q>

And did you saved the key (token)?

See a google drive remote from my rclone.conf file:

[GDrive_user]
type = drive
client_id =
client_secret =
service_account_file =
token = {"access_token": ".....................

Yes I did, I just edited it for safety

So let’s try to edit your rclone.conf file directly (it’s a normal txt file). Be careful when saving, don’t add a txt extension (rclone.conf.txt).

Add these lines at the beginning:

[secure]
type = drive
client_id = 
client_secret = 
service_account_file = 
token = {"access_token":"   your saved token here    "}

Alright just did, what do I do next?

In this line of the rclone file:

remote = secure

modify to:

remote = secure:some_encripted_folder

Where some_encripted_folder is a folder you should create on your google drive, and within encrypted files will be stored. Choose the name you want.

Paste here the rclone.conf file again.

[secure]
type = drive
client_id =
client_secret =
service_account_file =
token = {“access_token”:“access_token”:"[edited out]"}
[gdrive]
type = crypt
client_id =
client_secret =
scope = drive
root_folder_id =
service_account_file =
token = {“access_token”:"[edited out]"}
remote = secure:Backup
filename_encryption = standard
directory_name_encryption = true
password = [edited out]
password2 = [edited out]