I haven't used rclone copy yet - but may attempt it if I can clarify how the --drive-server-side-across-configs flag works.
I'm looking to move (not copy) Google Drive folders and files from user My Drives in one Google Workspace organization (domain) to user My Drives (or more likely, a Shared Drive as an interim step) in another Google Workspace organization.
However, the flag's documentation states the following, which specifies copy not move:
Has anyone successfully accomplished this?
hello and welcome to the forum,
yes, it works and works well.
move should work just fine.
Is there anything additional I need to flag in order to specify move instead of copy?
Are existing file IDs retained?
How does it handle folder structures - are they moved too (original folder IDs intact), or does it recreate folder structures (new folder IDs) on the destination then move the original files into the newly-duplicated folder structure?
Will it go My Drive → My Drive or can it only go as far as a Shared Drive (owned by the destination)?
Sorry for all the questions, just want to make sure rclone can truly solve a problem nobody else can.
there is a recent topic where i solved that for another rcloner.
to move everything from a edu account to a normal gdrive account.
i will try to find it for you now.
Thanks, look forward to reading it... although I'm moving to another Google Workspace environment, not a personal gmail account.
here it is, a very long topic
Thanks. Follow-up question: How does it handle My Drive files not owned by the source account (does it create copies? or a shortcut to the original? or ignore them altogether?)
here is the main post in that topic
https://forum.rclone.org/t/transfer-2tb-of-data-from-a-google-drive-edu-account-into-google-one/33994/23?u=asdffdsa
fwiw, i am bit paranoid, would not use rclone move, but do a two-step
rclone copy from source to dest
rclone delete/purge the source or use the gdrive web interface
Two-step is what I'm looking for a solution to avoid. Nobody else has solved it, I was trying to decipher whether rclone has... but if you don't even trust one-step rclone server side move, perhaps this is one such use case that remains unsolved 
believe me, i trust rclone 100%.
pushed many 100's of TiB over the years.
and if you search the forum, some rcloners have pushed more than 1PiB - petabyte
but as as general computaional concept, i prefer the two-step dance.
so ignore that point, and due the one-step hop 
you can trust rclone with the one-step hop......
the key line is file.ext: Moved (server-side)
rclone copy d:\files\file.ext edu:source -v
INFO : file.ext: Copied (new)
INFO :
Transferred: 1 B / 1 B, 100%, 0 B/s, ETA 0s
Transferred: 1 / 1, 100%
Elapsed time: 1.7s
rclone delete personal:dest
rclone ls edu:source
1 file.ext
rclone ls personal:dest
rclone move edu:source personal:dest --drive-server-side-across-configs -vv
DEBUG : rclone: Version "v1.60.0" starting with parameters ["C:\\data\\rclone\\rclone.exe" "move" "edu:source" "personal:dest" "--drive-server-side-across-configs" "-vv"]
DEBUG : Creating backend with remote "edu:source"
DEBUG : Using config file from "C:\\data\\rclone\\rclone.conf"
DEBUG : edu: detected overridden config - adding "{Db_Y9}" suffix to name
DEBUG : Google drive root 'source': 'root_folder_id = 0AIYnsu88uXytUk9PVA' - save this in the config to speed up startup
DEBUG : fs cache: renaming cache item "edu:source" to be canonical "edu{Db_Y9}:source"
DEBUG : Creating backend with remote "personal:dest"
DEBUG : personal: detected overridden config - adding "{Db_Y9}" suffix to name
DEBUG : Google drive root 'dest': 'root_folder_id = 0ADGofVY_JFmnUk9PVA' - save this in the config to speed up startup
DEBUG : fs cache: renaming cache item "personal:dest" to be canonical "personal{Db_Y9}:dest"
DEBUG : Google drive root 'dest': Waiting for checks to finish
DEBUG : Google drive root 'dest': Waiting for transfers to finish
INFO : file.ext: Moved (server-side)
INFO : There was nothing to transfer
INFO :
Transferred: 1 B / 1 B, 100%, 0 B/s, ETA -
Checks: 1 / 1, 100%
Renamed: 1
Elapsed time: 1.3s
rclone ls edu:source
rclone ls personal:dest
1 file.ext
Will it move My Drive → My Drive or can it only go My Drive → Shared Drive (owned by the destination domain)?
How does it move folders (and subfolders beneath them)? Does it actually move, or does it duplicate the folder structure on the destination, then organize files into the newly-created destination folder structure?
What will happen to files and folder owned by third parties? Assuming it can't move them, will rclone ignore them, copy them, or create shortcuts to them?
yes, i provided the rclone debug log as proof.
INFO : file.ext: Moved (server-side)
INFO : There was nothing to transfer
gdrive moves the folders/files as the request of rclone.
if the permissions are not set correctly, then rclone cannot move them.
the rclone log file will let you know:
Couldn't move: googleapi: Error 404
This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.