How do I copy files from google drive to another remote machine?

#1

I have tried to copy files from a google drive to another remote machine by running the following command in my desktop computer:" "rclone copy -P [my_google_drive_name]:/[folder_to_copy] [username]@[hostname]:[dest_folder]". Somehow, the command didn't give any error message and it seemed as if the copying was finished without any trouble (with the usual progress messages), but I found that there was no change at all in the remote machine side. Is this basically the right approach to do it, and if so, could you correct my mistakes? Or else, what is the right way to do this?

Running rclone copy ("rclone copy -P [my_google_drive_name]:/[folder_to_copy] [dest_folder]) from the remote machine seems to be working. Is this the best way to do it?

#2

I would guess rclone copied it into a local directory called [username]@[hostname]:[dest_folder] :frowning:

You'll need to set up, for example, an sftp remote. Or you can set one up on the fly using --sftp-host hostname --sftp-user username :sftp:dest_folder?

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#3

Yea I've seen malformatted rclone commands result in copying to a local directory instead (usually due to a typo on my part).
Usually that ends up in the rclone.exe folder, so check if that is the case.

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#4

Sorry, I feel like maybe I didn't address the main question directly here. Let me retry:

If we are talking about a regular Google Drive here, the correct way to do it is:
(1) run rclone config and configure your Gdrive remote (note what you name it as)
(2) Then use this synatx
rclone copy MyGdriveRemoteName:/foldername Destination:/foldername

Destination: can either be...

  • Any sort of rclone remote that connects to a server on the machine you want to send to. For Example, FTP, SFTP, webDAV or many other common ones.
    or
  • Any regular network location. These don't normally need a remote configured for them - you can just input the destination directly - or mount them and use that directly in the syntax.

The key here is that when it's a not your local machine that is the destination you need some sort of server to transfer the data to. (network shares are technically servers also). So I suggest you look at your situation to figure out what sort of server is most appropriate for you.

Let me know if you need more guidance.

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