Moving from Google Drive + Cryptomator to Rclone

Help and Support
1

What is the problem you are having with rclone?

What I really wanted to do initially was directly upload to an existing Cryptomator vault in Google Drive via Google Drive Desktop, but I found that that’s slow. 100 mb of around less than 10kb files take about 3 hours.

Currently what I do is I make a local vault using Cryptomator then I upload it to Google Drive via web browser. This is fast.

The issue is now I have to upload new vaults every single time, when I actually just want one Cryptomator vault in Google Drive. Opening Google Drive Desktop then opening vaults using Cryptomator and then transferring files between those vaults already in the cloud, still take a lot of time.

I also like the file streaming and easy "available for offline" feature of Google Drive Desktop. I'm probably gonna use Rclone for downloading from GDrive to backup to an HDD but I haven't tested it. Maybe downloading directly from Google Drive in the browser again is much faster.

I’ve looked into Rclone and I’m now aware of things like rclone crypt, mount, copy, sync, bisync, and –files-from.

I think I understand that rclone crypt can basically replace Cryptomator and rclone mount can replace the file streaming of Google Drive Desktop?

My issue is with offline files. In Google Drive Desktop, this is as simple as right-clicking on a file then clicking “Make available offline.” With Rclone, I have to make a separate folder? Then use bisync on that folder? I got sad learning this because it would mean that I have to copy/move certain files to a dedicated folder, destroying the folder structure. But I learned about the command –files-from, maybe that’s the solution?

summary:

  • cloud storage
  • files encrypted before entering cloud storage, files decrypted and accessed locally
  • fast upload and download of small files
  • sync/file streaming/mounting of cloud storage as a drive, (the same file in pc 1, pc 2 and cloud, so a change to the file in pc 1, pc 2 and cloud get the change to that file)
  • being able to make certain files and folders available for offline without losing folder structure, sync changes when going back online

I apologize for being another newbie asking for help. I really appreciate it.

Run the command 'rclone version' and share the full output of the command.

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19045.5011]
(c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\User 1>cd "C:\Users\User 1\Downloads\rclone-v1.72.1-windows-amd64"

C:\Users\User 1\Downloads\rclone-v1.72.1-windows-amd64>rclone version
rclone v1.72.1

  • os/version: Microsoft Windows 10 Home 22H2 22H2 (64 bit)
  • os/kernel: 10.0.19045.5011 (x86_64)
  • os/type: windows
  • os/arch: amd64
  • go/version: go1.25.5
  • go/linking: static
  • go/tags: cmount

C:\Users\User 1\Downloads\rclone-v1.72.1-windows-amd64>

Which cloud storage system are you using? (eg Google Drive)

Google Drive

2

welcome to the forum

summary:

  • cloud storage
    rclone can do that.

  • files encrypted before entering cloud storage, files decrypted and accessed locally
    rclone can do that

  • fast upload and download of small files
    as per rclone docs, that is a limitation of google drive. not a limitation of rclone.

  • sync/file streaming/mounting of cloud storage as a drive, (the same file in pc 1, pc 2 and cloud, so a change to the file in pc 1, pc 2 and cloud get the change to that file)
    rclone can do that

  • being able to make certain files and folders available for offline without losing folder structure, sync changes when going back online
    if you download a files or folders to local, then it is available offline. rclone can keep folder structure.

afiak, the same would apply to rclone.

  • rclone can do that

rclone mount is not desgined to emulate the offline feature of google drive desktop or microsoft onedrive desktop.

1 Like
3

Wow thank you for the fast reply

would bisync + –files-from be a workaround?

hmm, in Cryptomator, each vault has its own encryption. Meaning afaik, I can’t just transfer the encrypted files in one vault to another vault. But with rclone, yes I would be uploading maybe per folder, but once they’re all in the cloud, then I use rclone, all of those folders would be accessible with one decryption, right?

Do you have a recommendation for an alternative to Google Drive?

4

right. each client, pc1, pc2, would have a same rclone config file with the same encryption password(s).
you could rclone mount and see the files using windows explorer.

yes, that should work. tho sure the reason to use --files-from

i am not too familiar with the many complexities of bisync.
with your example, you have three endpoints, pc1, pc2, cloud.
let's see what other forum members think about that.

that is a loaded question with no simple answer.
hotly debated in the forum for many years and no end in sight.

it really depends on your unique use-case and so on.
my personal preference is S3 and sftp storage systems.
for lot's of small files, S3 is great choice. sftp, not a great choice.

rclone has great support for both.
and file transfer verification using checksums, tho crypt remotes have some limitations.

i like wasabi for hot storage, idrive e2 for cheaper s3 storage and a huge fan of hetzner storagebox for sftp, smb, webdav and more.

1 Like
5

This is great. Thanks for the help! I’ll keep tinkering with rclone

6

just one more bonus point about rclone. no vendor lock-in as with google drive and google desktop.

let's say today, your rclone crypt is stored on google drive.
tomorrow, you can use rclone to move the crypt from gdrive to any other provider.
and in most cases, rclone can verify that critical transfer using checksums.

7

Hi again :slight_smile:

I had an idea, I was wondering if one could rclone encrypt files locally and then upload those encrypted files via Google Drive Web Browser and then use rclone mount and crypt to decrypt and access those files in the cloud?

If that’s not possible, may I ask for the best optimal settings for uploading/downloading a lot of small files? I’m doing a test between Google Drive, OneDrive and MEGA. I used:rclone copy "C:\TestFolder" gdrive-crypt:SpeedTest --progress, and it was slow.

Claude suggested rclone copy "C:\TestFolder" gdrive-crypt:SpeedTest --progress --transfers=16 --checkers=32 --drive-chunk-size=32M --fast-list

I’m not sure if that’s the best optimal settings.

I also found this workaround of setting up your own API to make uploading to Google Drive faster: https://www.reddit.com/r/rclone/comments/1nx3oou/comment/ni20css/. I wonder what your thoughts are on this.

8

yes

that is not a workaround.
it is documented at https://rclone.org/drive/#making-your-own-client-id

do some basic testing, tweak the flag values and then you will know.

all of them are going to be slowish. as i suggested, S3 is much faster for small files. maybe B2.

1 Like
9

Thanks! Appreciate it. Will continue tinkering…

10

There’s no workaround for the file creation limit for the drive API.

That post was adjusting the # of transfers for capping out your bandwidth for larger files.

1 Like
11

idrive e2, uses S3, offer a free account and is a sponsor of rclone!

https://console.idrivee2.com/signup
https://www.idrive.com/s3-storage-e2/rclone

1 Like
12

I found a solution that cuts down time. Locally encrypt folder with small files, zip, upload zip to cloud, then unzip in the cloud . Thank you for all the help. :slight_smile:

I have found myself in a new situation however. It seems there’s no way around it.

Do you know the fast way to change the password and salt of already encrypted files in the cloud? It seems the only way is to create a new crypt remote. And even if the new crypt remote is in the same cloud as the original, I have to re-download and upload again, because encryption happens locally? And this goes the same for when you want to rclone copy or rclone move unencrypted files already in a cloud to a crypt remote in the same cloud?

One solution I found was to set up an free-tier Oracle VPS? I’m not sure how that’s viable.

13

lol, try --magic
where are the crypted files hosted at?

1 Like
14

lol Google Drive

300GB worth of crypted files already

and 800GB of unencrypted files in the same GDrive to crypt

I’m already using a client id and client secret I set up (thank you for the help)

Also found that Google Colab might be another option to Oracle VPS