This one free tool backs up my files to multiple cloud services at once

Rclone is an app that lets you upload, download, sync, and delete files in the cloud. Let me show you why it's better than the official apps from your cloud providers.

This simple command is all it takes to back up any folder or files from my local storage drives to all my cloud storage accounts in one go.

By the end of this tutorial, you will know what that command does and how to use it to upload your files to two or more cloud accounts simultaneously.

What's special about rclone

How it beats the official cloud apps

Rclone works as a command-line tool inside a terminal emulator. It might seem counter-intuitive that a command-line app can be better than the official version. But when it comes to power and efficiency, these command-line interface (CLI) tools are virtually unbeatable.

Think about the time it takes to open a cloud website and click around to upload or download files.

It seems minuscule, but the time adds up. Say, you have to create frequent backups between multiple folders, multiple machines, multiple cloud providers, and multiple accounts. Each layer of complexity makes it more and more annoying to handle manually.

This is where tools like rclone shine. You need to connect rclone with your cloud account once. This is called setting up a "remote." After that, instead of opening browser tabs and logging into accounts, you can run simple commands to upload, download, and sync files with the cloud.

In basic terms, the keyboard beats the mouse because it is faster to type. It's the same reason keyboard shortcuts are faster.

The rclone tool is a keyboard shortcut for cloud management.

Getting rclone

Start by installing rclone on your computer.

On Linux machines, you can install it directly using any package manager. The package name is usually rclone.

On Windows, winget will do it for you . Open a terminal and run this command.

Readers on macOS can try brew.

Check that it is installed correctly.

Simple enough. Now let's set up your first cloud remote. Open a terminal window and run:

1. Type nand press Enter to create a new remote.

2. Give it a name.

3. Scroll through the list of cloud providers. The rclone tool supports some 50 odd providers, so chances are you will find your cloud in the list. Type the number of the provider and hit Enter again. I chose Google Drive.

4. Then leave the rest of the settings as default by repeatedly pressing Enter until rclone generates a link for you to follow.

5. This link will take me to my Google account where I can authorize rclone to manage the cloud files. Wait for the "Success" message.

6. Back in the command-line terminal, press Enter two more times to keep the defaults until you see the remote in the list.

At this point, you can either add another remote by pressing nor quit the setup wizard by entering q.

I want to back up my data to two different cloud providers, so I'll have to add a remote for my Google Drive account as well. I can do that by running through the same six-step process.

This command will show the remotes that have already been added to rclone.

Both remotes have been added.

Merging multiple cloud accounts into one remote

In order to manage these two remotes, rclone has a "union" feature which combines two or more cloud drives into one remote. Any changes made using this remote are duplicated across all the remotes merged into a union remote.

Let's create one.

Select nfor a new remote and give it a name. Mine is called "multi."

In the list, look for the "Union merges the contents of several upstream fs" option. Usually it's number 40.

Type the two or more remote names when it asks for upstreams.

Type alland hit Enter on the next three options to make sure the file changes are mirrored across all remotes. Leave the rest as default and quit the configuration wizard.

We now have a remote calledmulti:and it's all we need to back up to multiple clouds simultaneously.

Using rclone

It's easier than you might think

Pay close attention to this command.

I have already created a remote calleddropboxwhich is connected to my Dropbox account. Thercloneat the beginning invokes the program itself.

There is a folder called "awesome-stuff" in the same directory where I have invoked the program.

Thecopycreates a duplicate of the folder named "awesome-stuff" and uploads it to the "backups" folder inside my Dropbox drive.

We will always add a colon :to the cloud remote name.

This example can be generalized like this:

If I reverse the order of the source and the destination, thecopycommand will download the backup folder from my Dropbox and drop it into the "awesome-stuff" folder.

The source in our example is a folder called "awesome-stuff", but it doesn't have to be a folder. It can be a file or multiple files listed one by one.

You can alsomovefiles and folders.

Or list the contents of a directory usingls.

List all the directories inside a cloud drive.

There are many more features (some pretty advanced), but you don't need to know all of them.

The copy command will suffice most of the time. In fact, you can substitute the remote name with a union remote name like the one I created in the previous section.

This command will upload the "awesome-stuff" folder to both my Dropbox and Google Drive at the same time.

You can add any number of remotes for cloud providers and manage them simultaneously.

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To make things even easier, you can create what's called a "command-line alias." An alias lets you assign keywords to trigger certain commands .

The rclone tool has some other neat features too, like the ability to mount cloud drives as Network-Attached-Storage (NAS) drives which you can access in your computer's file explorer.

Since rclone works entirely in the command-line, it's great for scripting automatic backups too.

It may take a little bit to get used to it, but once you do, you will find it more pleasant than the proprietary apps and web apps these cloud companies offer.