Rclone as a helper for external backups
Rsync for the Cloud

Backups for critical data have to withstand major disasters. Rclone, a descendant of Rsync, enables easy backups to the cloud and supports many services.
We all live in the hope of never getting into a situation where our belongings are destroyed by theft, fire, water, or natural disaster, but there are no guarantees. If you are serious about preserving your important digital data, you should secure it outside your home, preferably in several places at the same time. The Rsync-based Rclone [1] tool helps with off-site backup scenarios.
Rclone is a command-line program that performs one-way synchronization between locally defined datasets and a cloud. If you run it a second time, it searches the local filesystem for changes and then incrementally uploads only the changes to the cloud of your choice. Rclone implements most of Rsync's options and syntax. In addition, it offers additional commands to optimally support the individual services. Rclone offers a graphical front end for people who prefer not to work at the command line.
Rsync's two-way synchronization is not part of Rclone's feature set. This means that it deletes any locally-deleted files from the cloud, but not vice versa. In addition, the program does not save older versions when changes are made to files. It overwrites changed files, unless the selected service has its own versioning system, such as Google Drive or Dropbox. One way to avoid this is to use the backup-dir
function, which moves changed or deleted files to a separate directory [2].
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

News
-
AUR Repository Still Under DDoS Attack
Arch User Repository continues to be under a DDoS attack that has been going on for two weeks.
-
RingReaper Malware Poses Danger to Linux Systems
A new kind of malware exploits modern Linux kernels for I/O operations.
-
Happy Birthday, Linux
On August 25, Linux officially turns 34.
-
VirtualBox 7.2 Has Arrived
With early support for Linux kernel 6.17 and other new additions, VirtualBox 7.2 is a must-update for users.
-
Linux Mint 22.2 Beta Available for Testing
Some interesting new additions and improvements are coming to Linux Mint. Check out the Linux Mint 22.2 Beta to give it a test run.
-
Debian 13.0 Officially Released
After two years of development, the latest iteration of Debian is now available with plenty of under-the-hood improvements.
-
Upcoming Changes for MXLinux
MXLinux 25 has plenty in store to please all types of users.
-
A New Linux AI Assistant in Town
Newelle, a Linux AI assistant, works with different LLMs and includes document parsing and profiles.
-
Linux Kernel 6.16 Released with Minor Fixes
The latest Linux kernel doesn't really include any big-ticket features, just a lot of lines of code.
-
EU Sovereign Tech Fund Gains Traction
OpenForum Europe recently released a report regarding a sovereign tech fund with backing from several significant entities.