--- title: "rclone sync" description: "Make source and dest identical, modifying destination only." slug: rclone_sync url: /commands/rclone_sync/ groups: Sync,Copy,Filter,Listing,Important # autogenerated - DO NOT EDIT, instead edit the source code in cmd/sync/ and as part of making a release run "make commanddocs" --- # rclone sync Make source and dest identical, modifying destination only. ## Synopsis Sync the source to the destination, changing the destination only. Doesn't transfer files that are identical on source and destination, testing by size and modification time or MD5SUM. Destination is updated to match source, including deleting files if necessary (except duplicate objects, see below). If you don't want to delete files from destination, use the [copy](/commands/rclone_copy/) command instead. **Important**: Since this can cause data loss, test first with the `--dry-run` or the `--interactive`/`-i` flag. rclone sync --interactive SOURCE remote:DESTINATION Note that files in the destination won't be deleted if there were any errors at any point. Duplicate objects (files with the same name, on those providers that support it) are also not yet handled. It is always the contents of the directory that is synced, not the directory itself. So when source:path is a directory, it's the contents of source:path that are copied, not the directory name and contents. See extended explanation in the [copy](/commands/rclone_copy/) command if unsure. If dest:path doesn't exist, it is created and the source:path contents go there. It is not possible to sync overlapping remotes. However, you may exclude the destination from the sync with a filter rule or by putting an exclude-if-present file inside the destination directory and sync to a destination that is inside the source directory. Rclone will sync the modification times of files and directories if the backend supports it. If metadata syncing is required then use the `--metadata` flag. Note that the modification time and metadata for the root directory will **not** be synced. See https://github.com/rclone/rclone/issues/7652 for more info. **Note**: Use the `-P`/`--progress` flag to view real-time transfer statistics **Note**: Use the `rclone dedupe` command to deal with "Duplicate object/directory found in source/destination - ignoring" errors. See [this forum post](https://forum.rclone.org/t/sync-not-clearing-duplicates/14372) for more info. # Logger Flags The `--differ`, `--missing-on-dst`, `--missing-on-src`, `--match` and `--error` flags write paths, one per line, to the file name (or stdout if it is `-`) supplied. What they write is described in the help below. For example `--differ` will write all paths which are present on both the source and destination but different. The `--combined` flag will write a file (or stdout) which contains all file paths with a symbol and then a space and then the path to tell you what happened to it. These are reminiscent of diff files. - `= path` means path was found in source and destination and was identical - `- path` means path was missing on the source, so only in the destination - `+ path` means path was missing on the destination, so only in the source - `* path` means path was present in source and destination but different. - `! path` means there was an error reading or hashing the source or dest. The `--dest-after` flag writes a list file using the same format flags as [`lsf`](/commands/rclone_lsf/#synopsis) (including [customizable options for hash, modtime, etc.](/commands/rclone_lsf/#synopsis)) Conceptually it is similar to rsync's `--itemize-changes`, but not identical -- it should output an accurate list of what will be on the destination after the sync. Note that these logger flags have a few limitations, and certain scenarios are not currently supported: - `--max-duration` / `CutoffModeHard` - `--compare-dest` / `--copy-dest` - server-side moves of an entire dir at once - High-level retries, because there would be duplicates (use `--retries 1` to disable) - Possibly some unusual error scenarios Note also that each file is logged during the sync, as opposed to after, so it is most useful as a predictor of what SHOULD happen to each file (which may or may not match what actually DID.) ``` rclone sync source:path dest:path [flags] ``` ## Options ``` --absolute Put a leading / in front of path names --combined string Make a combined report of changes to this file --create-empty-src-dirs Create empty source dirs on destination after sync --csv Output in CSV format --dest-after string Report all files that exist on the dest post-sync --differ string Report all non-matching files to this file -d, --dir-slash Append a slash to directory names (default true) --dirs-only Only list directories --error string Report all files with errors (hashing or reading) to this file --files-only Only list files (default true) -F, --format string Output format - see lsf help for details (default "p") --hash h Use this hash when h is used in the format MD5|SHA-1|DropboxHash (default "md5") -h, --help help for sync --match string Report all matching files to this file --missing-on-dst string Report all files missing from the destination to this file --missing-on-src string Report all files missing from the source to this file -s, --separator string Separator for the items in the format (default ";") -t, --timeformat string Specify a custom time format, or 'max' for max precision supported by remote (default: 2006-01-02 15:04:05) ``` ## Copy Options Flags for anything which can Copy a file. ``` --check-first Do all the checks before starting transfers -c, --checksum Check for changes with size & checksum (if available, or fallback to size only). --compare-dest stringArray Include additional comma separated server-side paths during comparison --copy-dest stringArray Implies --compare-dest but also copies files from paths into destination --cutoff-mode HARD|SOFT|CAUTIOUS Mode to stop transfers when reaching the max transfer limit HARD|SOFT|CAUTIOUS (default HARD) --ignore-case-sync Ignore case when synchronizing --ignore-checksum Skip post copy check of checksums --ignore-existing Skip all files that exist on destination --ignore-size Ignore size when skipping use modtime or checksum -I, --ignore-times Don't skip items that match size and time - transfer all unconditionally --immutable Do not modify files, fail if existing files have been modified --inplace Download directly to destination file instead of atomic download to temp/rename --max-backlog int Maximum number of objects in sync or check backlog (default 10000) --max-duration Duration Maximum duration rclone will transfer data for (default 0s) --max-transfer SizeSuffix Maximum size of data to transfer (default off) -M, --metadata If set, preserve metadata when copying objects --modify-window Duration Max time diff to be considered the same (default 1ns) --multi-thread-chunk-size SizeSuffix Chunk size for multi-thread downloads / uploads, if not set by filesystem (default 64Mi) --multi-thread-cutoff SizeSuffix Use multi-thread downloads for files above this size (default 256Mi) --multi-thread-streams int Number of streams to use for multi-thread downloads (default 4) --multi-thread-write-buffer-size SizeSuffix In memory buffer size for writing when in multi-thread mode (default 128Ki) --no-check-dest Don't check the destination, copy regardless --no-traverse Don't traverse destination file system on copy --no-update-dir-modtime Don't update directory modification times --no-update-modtime Don't update destination modtime if files identical --order-by string Instructions on how to order the transfers, e.g. 'size,descending' --partial-suffix string Add partial-suffix to temporary file name when --inplace is not used (default ".partial") --refresh-times Refresh the modtime of remote files --server-side-across-configs Allow server-side operations (e.g. copy) to work across different configs --size-only Skip based on size only, not modtime or checksum --streaming-upload-cutoff SizeSuffix Cutoff for switching to chunked upload if file size is unknown, upload starts after reaching cutoff or when file ends (default 100Ki) -u, --update Skip files that are newer on the destination ``` ## Sync Options Flags just used for `rclone sync`. ``` --backup-dir string Make backups into hierarchy based in DIR --delete-after When synchronizing, delete files on destination after transferring (default) --delete-before When synchronizing, delete files on destination before transferring --delete-during When synchronizing, delete files during transfer --fix-case Force rename of case insensitive dest to match source --ignore-errors Delete even if there are I/O errors --max-delete int When synchronizing, limit the number of deletes (default -1) --max-delete-size SizeSuffix When synchronizing, limit the total size of deletes (default off) --suffix string Suffix to add to changed files --suffix-keep-extension Preserve the extension when using --suffix --track-renames When synchronizing, track file renames and do a server-side move if possible --track-renames-strategy string Strategies to use when synchronizing using track-renames hash|modtime|leaf (default "hash") ``` ## Important Options Important flags useful for most commands. ``` -n, --dry-run Do a trial run with no permanent changes -i, --interactive Enable interactive mode -v, --verbose count Print lots more stuff (repeat for more) ``` ## Filter Options Flags for filtering directory listings. ``` --delete-excluded Delete files on dest excluded from sync --exclude stringArray Exclude files matching pattern --exclude-from stringArray Read file exclude patterns from file (use - to read from stdin) --exclude-if-present stringArray Exclude directories if filename is present --files-from stringArray Read list of source-file names from file (use - to read from stdin) --files-from-raw stringArray Read list of source-file names from file without any processing of lines (use - to read from stdin) -f, --filter stringArray Add a file filtering rule --filter-from stringArray Read file filtering patterns from a file (use - to read from stdin) --ignore-case Ignore case in filters (case insensitive) --include stringArray Include files matching pattern --include-from stringArray Read file include patterns from file (use - to read from stdin) --max-age Duration Only transfer files younger than this in s or suffix ms|s|m|h|d|w|M|y (default off) --max-depth int If set limits the recursion depth to this (default -1) --max-size SizeSuffix Only transfer files smaller than this in KiB or suffix B|K|M|G|T|P (default off) --metadata-exclude stringArray Exclude metadatas matching pattern --metadata-exclude-from stringArray Read metadata exclude patterns from file (use - to read from stdin) --metadata-filter stringArray Add a metadata filtering rule --metadata-filter-from stringArray Read metadata filtering patterns from a file (use - to read from stdin) --metadata-include stringArray Include metadatas matching pattern --metadata-include-from stringArray Read metadata include patterns from file (use - to read from stdin) --min-age Duration Only transfer files older than this in s or suffix ms|s|m|h|d|w|M|y (default off) --min-size SizeSuffix Only transfer files bigger than this in KiB or suffix B|K|M|G|T|P (default off) ``` ## Listing Options Flags for listing directories. ``` --default-time Time Time to show if modtime is unknown for files and directories (default 2000-01-01T00:00:00Z) --fast-list Use recursive list if available; uses more memory but fewer transactions ``` See the [global flags page](/flags/) for global options not listed here. # SEE ALSO * [rclone](/commands/rclone/) - Show help for rclone commands, flags and backends.