Complete Guide to Migrating Documents from Google Drive to OneDrive using Rclone

What is Rclone?

Step 1: Install Rclone

On Windows:

1. Visit the official Rclone download site: https://rclone.org/downloads/
2. Download the ZIP file for your version of Windows (64-bit or 32-bit).
3. Unzip the contents of the ZIP file to an easily accessible location, for example,
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   C:\rclone
   .
4. To be able to run
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   rclone
   from anywhere in your command line, add the path where you unzipped it (e.g.,
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   C:\rclone
   ) to the PATH environment variable. You can do this by searching for "Edit the system environment variables" in the Windows Start menu, then in "Environment Variables," select "Path" under "System variables" and add the new path.

On macOS:

On Linux:

Step 2: Configure the Connection to Google Drive (Remote)

1. Open your Terminal (macOS/Linux) or Command Prompt/PowerShell (Windows).
2. Run the Rclone configuration command:
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   rclone config
3. Follow the on-screen prompts:
   • Press
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     n
     for
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     New remote
     .
   • Enter a name for the remote, for example:
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     gdrive
   • When prompted for the storage type (
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     Type
     ), enter
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     drive
     (or the number corresponding to Google Drive in the list, usually 13).
   • For
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     client_id
     and
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     client_secret
     , leave them blank. This will use Rclone's default values, which is the simplest approach.
   • For
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     scope
     , choose option
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     1
     for
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     Full access to all files and folders
     .
   • For the following questions (root_folder_id, service_account_file, shared_with_me), leave them blank unless you have very specific needs.
   • When asked
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     y/n auto config
     , press
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     y
     . A window will open in your browser asking you to log in to your Google account and authorize Rclone. Once authorized, Rclone will confirm the configuration in your terminal.
   • If it asks about
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     team drive
     , press
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     n
     unless you are working with a Google shared drive.
   • Finally, press
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     q
     to exit the configuration.

Step 3: Configure the Connection to OneDrive (Remote)

1. Run the configuration command again:
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   rclone config
2. Follow the on-screen prompts:
   • Press
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     n
     for
     Copy

     New remote
     .
   • Enter a name for the remote, for example:
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     onedrive
   • When prompted for the storage type (
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     Type
     ), enter
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     onedrive
     (or the number corresponding to Microsoft OneDrive in the list, usually 26).
   • For
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     client_id
     and
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     client_secret
     , leave them blank to use Rclone's default values.
   • For
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     scope
     , choose the appropriate option (normally
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     1
     for OneDrive Personal or
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     2
     for OneDrive for Business/SharePoint).
   • Rclone will ask you to choose the drive you want to use (for example, your personal OneDrive or one from your organization).
   • For
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     Edit advanced config?
     , press
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     n
     .
   • When asked
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     y/n auto config
     , press
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     y
     . A window will open in your browser asking you to log in to your Microsoft account and authorize Rclone. Once authorized, Rclone will confirm the configuration in your terminal.
   • Finally, press
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     q
     to exit the configuration.

Step 4: Perform the Copy from Google Drive to OneDrive

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  gdrive:
  : Indicates that the source is the root of your Google Drive (the name you gave the remote followed by a colon).
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  onedrive:NubiFiles
  : Indicates that the destination is the
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  NubiFiles
  folder within your OneDrive. If the folder does not exist, Rclone will create it automatically.
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  --progress
  (
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  -P
  ): Shows a real-time progress bar so you can see the copy's advancement.
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  --server-side-across-configs
  : This flag is crucial! It tells the cloud services to perform the transfer directly between their servers, without the files passing through your machine. This is much faster and does not consume your local bandwidth. It is the successor to
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  --drive-server-side-copy
  for copies between different cloud providers.
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  --log-file=ruta/a/log.txt
  : Saves a detailed log of the operation in a text file (
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  rclone_nubi_copy_log.txt
  ). This is very useful for reviewing the process, debugging errors, or confirming the list of copied files.
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  -v
  : Activates "verbose" mode, showing more details about the operation in your terminal.
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  --transfers=8
  : Tells Rclone to attempt to transfer up to 8 files in parallel. This can speed up the copy, but do not increase it too much to avoid overwhelming the cloud service APIs.
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  --checkers=8
  : Controls the number of parallel hash checks, also to speed up the process.

Always do a

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dry-run

first! (Simulation)

Important Considerations

• Folder Paths: Ensure that the paths to the folders in Google Drive and OneDrive are correct. You can use
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  rclone ls gdrive:
  and
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  rclone ls onedrive:
  to list the contents of your remotes and verify the paths.
• API Limits: Cloud services have limits on the number of requests. Rclone is designed to handle this, but if you copy many small files very quickly, you might encounter temporary errors that Rclone usually retries.
• Copy

  copy
  vs.
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  sync
  : For your "copy everything" scenario,
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  rclone copy
  is the safest option. The
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  rclone sync
  command would make the destination identical to the source, meaning it would delete files in the destination that are not in the source. Use it with extreme caution!