Configure an existing encrypted remote on a new machine

Help and Support
1

What is the problem you are having with rclone?

On one machine, I setup and rclone remote named cloud, let's say, and within that remote, I have an encrypted remote, named encrypted-remote.

On another machine, I install rclone and I can add cloud as a remote. I can see that it has encrypted-remote within.

Now, how can I add the encrypted encrypted-remote as a remote without copying the rclone config file?

I do have the password to the encrypted-remote.

What is your rclone version (output from rclone version)

v1.50.2

Which OS you are using and how many bits (eg Windows 7, 64 bit)

Ubuntu 20.04

2

hello,

please update rclone, that version is very old.
https://rclone.org/downloads/#script-download-and-install

on that second machine, create a new remote encrypted-remote using the same settings as encrypted-remote from the config file on the first machine.

3

Thanks. So basically, one has to have "access" to the config file, right? Without a config file, it seems one needs to guess the configurations. In this case, what happens if for example filename_encryption is set to a different value?

What I was imagining is that rclone "sees" the encrypted remote, asks for a password, and adds it as a remote. This does not seem possible, right?

4

since you do not want to copy the config file from machine one to machine two:
you must create a new remote encrypted-remote on machine two, using the same settings as machine one.

then on machine two, rclone can see the encrypted remote.

5

Thanks, that makes sense.
The workflow I had in mind though is similar to encryption with LUKS.

If I encrypt an external hard drive with LUKS on one machine, and connect it to another machine, I only need the encryption password to open and mount the drive. I do not need the configurations used to encrypt the partition initially.

It seems that the above workflow is not possible with rclone.

6

LUKS is much more limited then rclone using local folders

rclone works with dozens of cloud backends, local folders, can use multiple passwords, salts and so on.
so taking one-minute to create a rclone config is worth the effort.

7

I understand, and am not comparing the two tools. Sorry if it seemed like that. I am using rclone for all the benefits you mentioned. It is a great tool.

My comment was regarding the encryption workflow only and whether re-entering the configuration is the only way. The answer seems to be yes and it means that the rclone config file is an important file one should hold on to. Like a password pretty much. This is not what I had understood with my limited experience with rclone.

My impression was that the encryption password is the only important information I need to keep. It also tells me that I if I use rclone with encryption to back up my machine, I need to keep a separate copy of my rclone config file somewhere else.

Anyways, thanks for the help.

8

sure, i agree, keeping a separate copy of thw way to go.

but, same as LUKS, as long as you have the passwords, you can access the data.

9

Let's say one only has the password. While re-configuring the remote on a second machine, they respond How to encrypt the filenames. with standard, but when they were creating the encrypted remote, the answer was off. Would this cause any issues?

10

the files were encrypted on the first machine using whatever settings you had chosen.

so on second machine must use the EXACT same settings as the first machine.

11

I see. I was thrown off by this.

Unlike LUKS, with only a password, I cannot access the data. I need to know/store/remember my config as well.

12

it can be confusing.
so i print out my config file on to paper

13

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