Rclone Copy Example May 2026

Here’s a clear, practical text about using rclone copy with examples. rclone copy is one of the most frequently used commands in the Rclone tool. It copies files from a source to a destination without deleting anything from the destination. If files already exist at the destination, Rclone will skip them unless the source file is newer (by default) or different in size/modification time, depending on your flags. Basic Syntax rclone copy source:path destination:path Example 1: Copy a local folder to a remote cloud storage Copy all files from a local directory ~/Documents/backup to a Google Drive remote named gdrive into a folder called backup2025 :

rclone copy /var/log gdrive:logs-backup --exclude "*.tmp" --exclude "*.log" Copy between two different cloud providers (e.g., from Dropbox to Google Drive): rclone copy example

rclone copy mys3:my-bucket/report.pdf ~/Downloads/ Add the -u (update) flag to skip files that are newer on the destination: Here’s a clear, practical text about using rclone

rclone copy ~/Documents/backup gdrive:backup2025 Copy report.pdf from an S3 bucket (remote named mys3 ) to your local Downloads folder: If files already exist at the destination, Rclone

rclone copy /local/pics onedrive:pictures -v --progress Copy all files except .tmp and .log files:

rclone copy -u /home/user/data dropbox:backup See what’s happening in real-time and show transfer progress:

rclone copy dropbox:myfiles gdrive:dropbox-mirror rclone copy /home/data b2:mybucket --dry-run Common flags used with rclone copy | Flag | Description | |------|-------------| | -u, --update | Skip files that are newer on the destination | | -v | Verbose logging | | --progress | Show transfer progress | | --dry-run | Perform a trial run | | --exclude | Exclude files matching pattern | | --include | Include only files matching pattern | | -P | Same as --progress | | --transfers N | Run N file transfers in parallel (default 4) | | --ignore-existing | Skip all files that already exist at destination | Important note rclone copy will not delete files from the destination that are missing from the source. If you need mirroring (deleting extra files at destination), use rclone sync instead. Would you like a version tailored to a specific use case, like backups or media syncing?