We will use rclone tool to duplicate folders in this example on a shared Google drive.

First download the standalone binary e.g.

wget https://downloads.rclone.org/v1.66.0/rclone-v1.66.0-linux-amd64.zip
unzip rclone-v1.66.0-linux-amd64.zip

Use this method when you need to manipulate your own drive and you can authenticate via browser e.g. on your local machine. Simply follow instructions from here

This is useful when you need to run the rclone tool from some other server which doesn't have web browser installed to authenticate and you have paid Google Workspace account and when you want to synchronise files onto machines that don't have actively logged-in users, for example build machines.

Instructions are adapted from here.

• To create a service account and obtain its credentials, go to the Google Developer Console.
• You must have a project - create one if you don't.
• Then go to “IAM & admin” → “Service Accounts”.
• Use the “Create Service Account” button. Fill in “Service account name” and “Service account ID” with something that identifies your client.
• Select “Create And Continue”. Step 2 and 3 are optional.
• These credentials are what rclone will use for authentication. If you ever need to remove access, press the “Delete service account key” button.
• Click on created service account and create new json key which you will store for later in a local file e.g. rclone-sac.json

Go to https://console.developers.google.com/apis/api/drive.googleapis.com/overview and enable the API. (under Google Console > APIs & Services)

Contact your Google Workspace admin and allow access for the service account's Client ID howto here

After that is done follow steps 3 and 4 to make sure it works

Show help:

./rclone -h

List existing remotes:

./rclone listremotes

Copy folder inside the my_remote:

./rclone copy 'my_remote:folder1' 'my_remote:folder1_copy'

• rclone-v1.66.0
• Google services 2024-05

• https://cloud.google.com/iam/docs/service-accounts-create