Rclone union vs rclone combine

Feature
1

I have multiple Dropbox application folders configured as separate remotes. I would like to present these as separate folders in a new virtual remote that I mount, for which a configured type = combine [2] remote seems to do what I need.

In the case that a type = combine remote does what I need, can there be a performance or other benefit to instead using a union [1] type remote instead?

Thank you!

[1] Union
[2] Combine

2

If you just want the convenience of different remotes configured as separate directories then combine is exactly what you want.

union will join the directories together into one big directory which may or may not be what you want.

Imagine your remotes are called remote1: and remote2:.

Combine will give you this

remote1
  - file1
remote2
 - file2

Whereas union will give you this

  - file1
  - file2

That may or may not be what you want.

1 Like
3

would combine behave in a scenario of (say) of combining the same remote crypted (via chunk) and not

4

Yes that would work fine.

5

Thank you, @ncw.

In my instance, I have paths remote1:/App1/path1 and remote2:/App2/path2 already, and if I understand correctly, I am able (using different config, of course) to configure either one in such a way that it presents:

path1 (remote1)
  - file 1
path2 (remote2)
  - file2

Would there be a material performance or other difference between Combine and Union in this case?

Thank you!

6

I doubt you'd be able to measure the difference.

I'd use combine if it works for you as it is the simplest option.

7

That makes sense, thank you.

Would you still advise using combine if you found yourself needing two combines (nested) in order to create a two-level hierarchy?

[DBRoot]
#	/Backups (dbcrypt-backups:/Backups)
#	/Media (DBMedia:)
#		/Movies (dbcrypt-movies:/Movies)
#		/TV (dbcrypt-tv:/TV)
type = combine
upstreams = "Backups=dbcrypt-backups:/Backups" "Media=DBMedia:"

[DBMedia]
type = combine
upstreams = "Movies=dbcrypt-movies:/Movies" "TV=dbcrypt-tv:/TV"
8

Nested combines work fine and the performance will be great also.

9

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