Backing up to Google Drive with Rclone on Ubuntu

1. Install Rclone

• Open a terminal on your Ubuntu machine.

• Run the following command to install Rclone:

  sudo apt install rclone
  

2. Configure Rclone

• In the terminal, run the following command to start the Rclone configuration:

  rclone config
  

• Choose "n" for a new remote and press Enter.

• Enter a name for your remote (e.g., "gdrive") and press Enter.

• Select "drive" as the storage type for Google Drive and press Enter.

• Press Enter to use the default client ID and client secret.

• Leave the scope as default and press Enter.

• Select "1" for "Full access to all files" and press Enter.

• Leave the "root_folder_id" and "service_account_file" empty by pressing Enter.

• Select "n" for no advanced config and press Enter.

• Choose "n" for no auto config and press Enter.

• A URL will be provided. Open it in a web browser, log in to your Google account, and grant permissions to Rclone.

• Copy the authorization code, paste it into the terminal, and press Enter.

• Choose "n" for no team drive and press Enter.

• Verify that the configuration looks correct and choose "y" to save it.

3. Create a backup script

• Open a text editor (e.g., nano) to create a backup script:

  nano /var/www/backup.sh
  

• Copy and paste the following content into the script (MAKE SURE TO CHANGE LABNAME):

  #!/bin/bash
  
  source_dir="/var/www/vlsm"
  remote_name="gdrive"
  remote_dir="LABNAME"
  
  rclone sync "$source_dir" "$remote_name:$remote_dir"
  

• Modify the source_dir, remote_name, and remote_dir variables according to your setup.

• Save the script and exit the text editor (Ctrl+X, then Y, then Enter in nano).

4. Make the script executable

• Run the following command to make the script executable:

  chmod +x /var/www/backup.sh
  

5. Run the backup script

• Execute the backup script by running:

  /var/www/backup.sh
  

• Rclone will start syncing the /var/www/vlsm folder to your Google Drive.

6. Automate backups

• Run the following commands to automate the backups:

(crontab -l 2>/dev/null | grep -q "@reboot /var/www/backup.sh" || echo "@reboot /var/www/backup.sh") | crontab -

(crontab -l 2>/dev/null | grep -q "0 */6 * * * /var/www/backup.sh" || echo "0 */6 * * * /var/www/backup.sh") | crontab -

That's it! You have now set up Rclone on your Ubuntu machine and created a script to backup the /var/www/vlsm folder to Google Drive. The backup will run automatically based on the schedule you specified in the cron job.