How to Synchronize Files between Computers and Cloud Storage with Rclone

Configuring Rclone with Proton Drive on PC01 and PC02

• Download Rclone from the official website: https://rclone.org/:

• Choose the appropriate download link according to your architecture:

• Extract the contents of the zip archive and rename the extracted folder to rclone:

• Open a terminal from the extracted folder and run the .\rclone.exe config command:

• Follow the setup instructions and answer the questions asked as shown below:

PS C:\Users\user\Downloads\rclone> .\rclone.exe config
2023/10/07 14:46:36 NOTICE: Config file "C:\\Users\\user\\AppData\\Roaming\\rclone\\rclone.conf" not found - using defaults
No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n

Enter name for new remote.
name> proton

Option Storage.
Type of storage to configure.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value.
 1 / 1Fichier
   \ (fichier)
 2 / Akamai NetStorage
   \ (netstorage)
 3 / Alias for an existing remote
   \ (alias)
[…]
37 / Proton Drive
   \ (protondrive)
38 / Put.io
   \ (putio)
39 / QingCloud Object Storage
   \ (qingstor)
40 / Quatrix by Maytech
   \ (quatrix)
41 / SMB / CIFS
   \ (smb)
[…]
Storage> 37

Option username.
The username of your proton account
Enter a value.
username> YOUREMAILADDRESS@proton.me

Option password.
The password of your proton account.
Choose an alternative below.
y) Yes, type in my own password
g) Generate random password
y/g> y
Enter the password:
password: ********
Confirm the password:
password: ********

Option 2fa.
The 2FA code
The value can also be provided with --protondrive-2fa=000000
The 2FA code of your proton drive account if the account is set up with
two-factor authentication
Enter a value. Press Enter to leave empty.
2fa>

Edit advanced config?
y) Yes
n) No (default)
y/n> n

Configuration complete.
Options:
- type: protondrive
- username: YOUREMAILADDRESS@proton.me
- password: *** ENCRYPTED ***
Keep this "proton" remote?
y) Yes this is OK (default)
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

Current remotes:

Name                 Type
====                 ====
proton               protondrive

e) Edit existing remote
n) New remote
d) Delete remote
r) Rename remote
c) Copy remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
e/n/d/r/c/s/q> q

• Check that the connection to Proton Drive is working:

PS C:\Users\user\Downloads\rclone> .\rclone.exe ls proton:

• If you encounter the following error message, make sure you have previously opened the Proton Drive application from the web interface, as explained above:

2023/10/07 15:44:12.806871 ERROR RESTY 401 GET https://mail.proton.me/api/core/v4/users: Invalid access token (Code=401, Status=401), Attempt 1
2023/10/07 15:44:12.945153 ERROR RESTY 422 POST https://mail.proton.me/api/auth/v4/refresh: Invalid refresh token (Code=10013, Status=422), Attempt 1
2023/10/07 15:44:16 mainShare &proton.Share{ShareMetadata:proton.ShareMetadata{ShareID:"", LinkID:"", VolumeID:"", Type:0, State:0, CreationTime:0, ModifyTime:0, Creator:"", Flags:0, Locked:false, VolumeSoftDeleted:false}, AddressID:"", AddressKeyID:"", Key:"", Passphrase:"", PassphraseSignature:""}
2023/10/07 15:44:16 shares []proton.ShareMetadata{}
2023/10/07 15:44:16 Failed to create file system for "proton:": couldn't initialize a new proton drive instance: the main share assumption has failed

Using Rclone

Once Cloud Storage is configured, let's see what we can do with this tool.

• Display configured cloud:

PS C:\Users\user\Downloads\rclone> .\rclone.exe listremotes
proton:

• Create an empty TEST.txt file in Proton Drive:

PS C:\Users\user\Downloads\rclone> .\rclone.exe touch proton:TEST.txt

• Synchronize the Cloud Drive with the local folder C:\Users\user\Desktop\PROTON\:

PS C:\Users\user\Downloads\rclone> .\rclone.exe sync proton: C:\Users\user\Desktop\PROTON\

• List Cloud Drive files:

PS C:\Users\user\Downloads\rclone> .\rclone.exe ls proton:
0 TEST.txt

• Check version and update Rclone to the latest available version, if necessary:

PS C:\Users\user\Downloads\rclone> .\rclone.exe selfupdate
2023/10/07 16:39:33 NOTICE: rclone is up to date

• Show all available Rclone options:

PS C:\Users\user\Downloads\rclone> .\rclone.exe
Usage:
  rclone [flags]
  rclone [command]

Available Commands:
  about       Get quota information from the remote.
  authorize   Remote authorization.
  backend     Run a backend-specific command.
  bisync      Perform bidirectional synchronization between two paths.
  cat         Concatenates any files and sends them to stdout.
  check       Checks the files in the source and destination match.
  checksum    Checks the files in the source against a SUM file.
  cleanup     Clean up the remote if possible.
  completion  Output completion script for a given shell.
  config      Enter an interactive configuration session.
  copy        Copy files from source to dest, skipping identical files.
  copyto      Copy files from source to dest, skipping identical files.
  copyurl     Copy url content to dest.
  cryptcheck  Cryptcheck checks the integrity of an encrypted remote.
  cryptdecode Cryptdecode returns unencrypted file names.
  dedupe      Interactively find duplicate filenames and delete/rename them.
  delete      Remove the files in path.
  deletefile  Remove a single file from remote.
  gendocs     Output markdown docs for rclone to the directory supplied.
  hashsum     Produces a hashsum file for all the objects in the path.
  help        Show help for rclone commands, flags and backends.
  link        Generate public link to file/folder.
  listremotes List all the remotes in the config file and defined in environment variables.
  ls          List the objects in the path with size and path.
  lsd         List all directories/containers/buckets in the path.
  lsf         List directories and objects in remote:path formatted for parsing.
  lsjson      List directories and objects in the path in JSON format.
  lsl         List the objects in path with modification time, size and path.
  md5sum      Produces an md5sum file for all the objects in the path.
  mkdir       Make the path if it doesn't already exist.
  mount       Mount the remote as file system on a mountpoint.
  move        Move files from source to dest.
  moveto      Move file or directory from source to dest.
  ncdu        Explore a remote with a text based user interface.
  obscure     Obscure password for use in the rclone config file.
  purge       Remove the path and all of its contents.
  rc          Run a command against a running rclone.
  rcat        Copies standard input to file on remote.
  rcd         Run rclone listening to remote control commands only.
  rmdir       Remove the empty directory at path.
  rmdirs      Remove empty directories under the path.
  selfupdate  Update the rclone binary.
  serve       Serve a remote over a protocol.
  settier     Changes storage class/tier of objects in remote.
  sha1sum     Produces an sha1sum file for all the objects in the path.
  size        Prints the total size and number of objects in remote:path.
  sync        Make source and dest identical, modifying destination only.
  test        Run a test command
  touch       Create new file or change file modification time.
  tree        List the contents of the remote in a tree like fashion.
  version     Show the version number.

Use "rclone [command] --help" for more information about a command.
Use "rclone help flags" for to see the global flags.
Use "rclone help backends" for a list of supported services.

PC01

• Create a directory C:\RCLONE\:

PS C:\Users\user\Downloads\rclone> mkdir C:\RCLONE

• Send file C:\RCLONE\pwd.kdbx to Proton Drive:

PS C:\Users\user\Downloads\rclone> .\rclone.exe sync C:\RCLONE\pwd.kdbx proton:

• Activate bisync between C:\RCLONE\ and Proton Drive:

PS C:\Users\user\Downloads\rclone> .\rclone.exe bisync C:\RCLONE\ proton: --resync

• Perform a bidirectional synchronization between C:\RCLONE\ and Proton Drive:

PS C:\Users\user\Downloads\rclone> .\rclone.exe bisync C:\RCLONE\ proton: --force

PC02

• Create a directory C:\RCLONE\:

PS C:\Users\user\Downloads\rclone> mkdir C:\RCLONE

• Retrieve the file pwd.kdbx from Proton Drive to C:\RCLONE\:

PS C:\Users\user\Downloads\rclone> .\rclone.exe sync proton: C:\RCLONE\

• Enable bisync between C:\RCLONE\ and Proton Drive:

PS C:\Users\user\Downloads\rclone> .\rclone.exe bisync C:\RCLONE\ proton: --resync

• Perform bidirectional synchronization between C:\RCLONE\ and Proton Drive:

PS C:\Users\user\Downloads\rclone> .\rclone.exe bisync C:\RCLONE\ proton: --force

Batch Script

Create a C:\rclone.bat script.

@echo off

REM VARIABLES
set SOURCE=C:\RCLONE
set DESTINATION=proton:
set DOWNLOADS=C:\Users\USERNAME\Downloads

REM UPDATE RCLONE TO LATEST RELEASE
%DOWNLOADS%"\rclone\rclone.exe" selfupdate
REM FORCE BISYNC
%DOWNLOADS%"\rclone\rclone.exe" bisync %SOURCE% %DESTINATION% --force

Windows Task Scheduler

• Open the Windows Task Scheduler:

• Create a new task:

• Give the task a name and configure it as shown below:

• In the Triggers tab, click on New… and set the task to run every 5 minutes (adjust this value as required):

• In the Actions tab, click on New… and set the previously created batch script, adding C:\Users\user\Downloads\rclone\ to the Start in option:

• Finally, in the Conditions tab, specify that the task should only start if a network connection is available: