Run rclone once a day

Help and Support
1

I am trying to use rclone occasionally, like, once a day to update my recent Google Photo files. I am using Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, if that matters.
rclone version is

rclone v1.66.0
- os/version: ubuntu 22.04 (64 bit)
- os/kernel: 6.5.0-26-generic (x86_64)
- os/type: linux
- os/arch: amd64
- go/version: go1.22.1
- go/linking: static
- go/tags: none

The command I am using is rclone --max-age 100d copy "Google:media" ~/Bilder/GooglePhotos. Works okay for me, the intended files are copied to my local drive.

The command does not terminate, though. I have to kill it by Ctrl-C. This prevents me from adding it to a daily run script to automatically update my Google Photos in the background.

Is there an option I missed like --only-once or such?

2

If it does not terminate it means it is still running.

Provide all details as asked in the template and we can look at this.

3

What may be missing? I gave the versions, the command, the hosting service - any output is not to be seen, so I could not provide any.

The config output is plain:

~$ rclone config
Current remotes:

Name                 Type
====                 ====
Google               google photos
4

Just an addition. In dry run mode you can see there are re-attempts every minute:

~$ rclone -n --max-age 100d copy "Google:media" ~/Bilder/GooglePhotos
2024/03/29 17:30:44 NOTICE: 
Transferred:   	          0 B / 0 B, -, 0 B/s, ETA -
Checks:                37 / 37, 100%
Elapsed time:       1m0.0s

2024/03/29 17:31:44 NOTICE: 
Transferred:   	          0 B / 0 B, -, 0 B/s, ETA -
Checks:               108 / 108, 100%
Elapsed time:       2m0.0s

2024/03/29 17:32:44 NOTICE: 
Transferred:   	          0 B / 0 B, -, 0 B/s, ETA -
Checks:               111 / 111, 100%
Elapsed time:       3m0.0s

2024/03/29 17:33:44 NOTICE: 
Transferred:   	          0 B / 0 B, -, 0 B/s, ETA -
Checks:               126 / 126, 100%
Elapsed time:       4m0.0s

2024/03/29 17:34:44 NOTICE: 
Transferred:   	          0 B / 0 B, -, 0 B/s, ETA -
Checks:               126 / 126, 100%
Elapsed time:       5m0.0s

2024/03/29 17:35:37 NOTICE: by-day/2024/2024-02-16/IMG_20240216_165910258_HDR.jpg: Skipped copy as --dry-run is set
2024/03/29 17:35:37 NOTICE: by-day/2024/2024-02-16/IMG_20240216_174506550.jpg: Skipped copy as --dry-run is set
2024/03/29 17:35:37 NOTICE: by-day/2024/2024-02-16/IMG_20240216_182033179.jpg: Skipped copy as --dry-run is set
2024/03/29 17:35:37 NOTICE: by-day/2024/2024-02-16/VID_20240216_165902074.mp4: Skipped copy as --dry-run is set
2024/03/29 17:35:37 NOTICE: by-day/2024/2024-02-16/IMG_20240216_182038672.jpg: Skipped copy as --dry-run is set
2024/03/29 17:35:43 NOTICE: by-day/2024/2024-02-24/IMG_20240224_111250852_HDR.jpg: Skipped copy as --dry-run is set
2024/03/29 17:35:43 NOTICE: by-day/2024/2024-02-24/IMG_20240224_111245255_HDR.jpg: Skipped copy as --dry-run is set
2024/03/29 17:35:44 NOTICE: 
Transferred:   	          off / off, -, 0 B/s, ETA -
Checks:               126 / 126, 100%
Transferred:            7 / 7, 100%
Elapsed time:       6m0.0s

2024/03/29 17:36:44 NOTICE: 
Transferred:   	          off / off, -, 0 B/s, ETA -
Checks:               126 / 126, 100%
Transferred:            7 / 7, 100%
Elapsed time:       7m0.0s

2024/03/29 17:37:25 NOTICE: by-day/2024/2024-03-11/IMG_20240311_175847788.jpg: Skipped copy as --dry-run is set
2024/03/29 17:37:25 NOTICE: by-day/2024/2024-03-11/IMG_20240311_180050637.jpg: Skipped copy as --dry-run is set
2024/03/29 17:37:25 NOTICE: by-day/2024/2024-03-11/IMG_20240311_180219994.jpg: Skipped copy as --dry-run is set
2024/03/29 17:37:25 NOTICE: by-day/2024/2024-03-11/IMG_20240311_180133345.jpg: Skipped copy as --dry-run is set
2024/03/29 17:37:25 NOTICE: by-day/2024/2024-03-11/IMG_20240311_180252948.jpg: Skipped copy as --dry-run is set
2024/03/29 17:37:25 NOTICE: by-day/2024/2024-03-11/IMG_20240311_180430190.jpg: Skipped copy as --dry-run is set
2024/03/29 17:37:25 NOTICE: by-day/2024/2024-03-11/IMG_20240311_180350058.jpg: Skipped copy as --dry-run is set
2024/03/29 17:37:25 NOTICE: by-day/2024/2024-03-11/IMG_20240311_180512106.jpg: Skipped copy as --dry-run is set
2024/03/29 17:37:25 NOTICE: by-day/2024/2024-03-11/IMG_20240311_180523419.jpg: Skipped copy as --dry-run is set
2024/03/29 17:37:44 NOTICE: 
Transferred:   	          off / off, -, 0 B/s, ETA -
Checks:               126 / 126, 100%
Transferred:           16 / 16, 100%
Elapsed time:       8m0.0s

2024/03/29 17:38:30 NOTICE: by-day/2024/2024-03-27/IMG_20240327_180119_BURST001_COVER.jpg: Skipped copy as --dry-run is set
2024/03/29 17:38:30 NOTICE: by-day/2024/2024-03-27/IMG_20240327_180141.jpg: Skipped copy as --dry-run is set
2024/03/29 17:38:30 NOTICE: by-day/2024/2024-03-27/IMG_20240327_180041.jpg: Skipped copy as --dry-run is set
2024/03/29 17:38:44 NOTICE: 
Transferred:   	          off / off, -, 0 B/s, ETA -
Checks:               126 / 126, 100%
Transferred:           19 / 19, 100%
Elapsed time:       9m0.0s
5

run your command with -vv flag and post output here. For some reason it is slow. It should finish.

Why it is not we have to see the log.

6

This was in fact the case. The Google Photos directory structure is vast and every file is copied at least four times: for "all", "by-day", "by-month" and "by-year" all will get their separate copy. I reduced the command to rclone --max-age 100d copy "Google:media/all" ~/Bilder/GooglePhotos to get a single copy only and the run finished in within a minute.

Thanks anyway! :wink: