---
title: "Google drive"
description: "Rclone docs for Google drive"
date: "2015-09-12"
---

<i class="fa fa-google"></i> Google Drive
-----------------------------------------

Paths are specified as `drive:path`

Drive paths may be as deep as required, eg `drive:directory/subdirectory`.

The initial setup for drive involves getting a token from Google drive
which you need to do in your browser.  `rclone config` walks you
through it.

Here is an example of how to make a remote called `remote`.  First run:

     rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

```
n) New remote
d) Delete remote
q) Quit config
e/n/d/q> n
name> remote
What type of source is it?
Choose a number from below
 1) swift
 2) s3
 3) local
 4) drive
type> 4
Google Application Client Id - leave blank normally.
client_id> 
Google Application Client Secret - leave blank normally.
client_secret> 
Remote config
Use auto config?
 * Say Y if not sure
 * Say N if you are working on a remote or headless machine or Y didn't work
y) Yes
n) No
y/n> y
If your browser doesn't open automatically go to the following link: http://127.0.0.1:53682/auth
Log in and authorize rclone for access
Waiting for code...
Got code
--------------------
[remote]
client_id = 
client_secret = 
token = {"AccessToken":"xxxx.x.xxxxx_xxxxxxxxxxx_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx","RefreshToken":"1/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx","Expiry":"2014-03-16T13:57:58.955387075Z","Extra":null}
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y
```

Note that rclone runs a webserver on your local machine to collect the
token as returned from Google if you use auto config mode. This only
runs from the moment it opens your browser to the moment you get back
the verification code.  This is on `http://127.0.0.1:53682/` and this
it may require you to unblock it temporarily if you are running a host
firewall, or use manual mode.

You can then use it like this,

List directories in top level of your drive

    rclone lsd remote:

List all the files in your drive

    rclone ls remote:

To copy a local directory to a drive directory called backup

    rclone copy /home/source remote:backup

### Modified time ###

Google drive stores modification times accurate to 1 ms.

### Revisions ###

Google drive stores revisions of files.  When you upload a change to
an existing file to google drive using rclone it will create a new
revision of that file.

Revisions follow the standard google policy which at time of writing
was

  * They are deleted after 30 days or 100 revisions (whatever comes first).
  * They do not count towards a user storage quota.

### Deleting files ###

By default rclone will delete files permanently when requested.  If
sending them to the trash is required instead then use the
`--drive-use-trash` flag.

### Specific options ###

Here are the command line options specific to this cloud storage
system.

#### --drive-chunk-size=SIZE ####

Upload chunk size. Must a power of 2 >= 256k. Default value is 256kB.

#### --drive-full-list ####

Use a full listing for directory list. More data but usually
quicker. On by default, disable with `--full-drive-list=false`.

#### --drive-upload-cutoff=SIZE ####

File size cutoff for switching to chunked upload.  Default is 256kB.

#### --drive-use-trash ####

Send files to the trash instead of deleting permanently. Defaults to
off, namely deleting files permanently.

### Limitations ###

Drive has quite a lot of rate limiting.  This causes rclone to be
limited to transferring about 2 files per second only.  Individual
files may be transferred much faster at 100s of MBytes/s but lots of
small files can take a long time.
