Question Cloud storage sync clients (e.g. OneDrive, Google Drive, iCloud Drive, Dropbox) on Linux

[mikeymikec]

I can't remember what piqued my curiosity to look into it today, though if I am to start offering Linux to customers then it's probably going to come up at some point.

I'm running Linux Mint 21.1 Cinammon and had a quick play around (by starting up the 'Online Accounts' app that comes with the distro). Here's what I found:

Google account connectivity: It seems that when it asks what I want to grant access to, one should 'select all' then tweak later. I initially tried selecting only access for Google Drive but it didn't work (permission denied when I later tried to access files through Nemo). I did two quick tests of Google Drive, one was an attempt to access a file in Google Sheets, at which point it fired up my default browser and asked me to sign in (I only sign in to Google when I need it, sign out straight after - I presume if one is always signed in then it wouldn't have asked at this point). My second test was to save a document in LibreOffice into Google Drive, then delete it through the file manager (Nemo). It worked.

Microsoft connectivity: This only appears to be e-mail access, no option to connect up OneDrive. Apparently there are two apps one can install for Linux but since I don't make any use of OneDrive and a quick attempt to install a OneDrive client from the standard repository wanted me to start faffing around at the command line and asking for response URI from Microsoft, I quickly gave up.

I'd be curious to know if any of you are using cloud storage sync clients on Linux and how you have got on with them.

 

[crashtech]

It's an interesting topic, don't mind if I watch and see what others have to say. My guess is that connecting Linux to a proprietary Microsoft product might be a niche case. I do use Google Drive but haven't ever used its integration capability with the Windows or Linux file system, preferring to move files around manually when necessary. Some kind of cloud sync might be handy though, I'm curious to see if you settle on a preferred method.

 

[lxskllr]

I use nextcloud and megasync. Megasync's gotten weird over the last few updates, and I've had some unusual problems. I signed up years ago when they were giving 50gb storage free(I think it's now 15gb), so I keep it for that. If I didn't have so much free space, I'd probably dump it cause it's proprietary software. I have a small amount of nextcloud storage through my email provider, and it's worked flawlessly. Libre software, and it can be self hosted.

edit:
A benefit of nextcloud is anyone can run it, and it's the same everywhere. If one didn't choose to self host, and bought service, the service provider can be changed in an instant if your provider became unsatisfactory for some reason. Of course your data is still on a foreign server. It isn't magic, so you'd have to resync to the new server, but it's only a matter of changing addresses, and entering credentials.

 

[thedighubs]

good evening dear friends

first of all - many thanks for the repies and for sharing your thoughtsl

thank you dear crashtech... awesome#

nteresting topic, don't mind if I watch and see what others have to say. My guess is that connecting Linux to a proprietary Microsoft product might be a niche case. I do use Google Drive but haven't ever used its integration capability with the Windows or Linux file system, preferring to move files around manually when necessary. Some kind of cloud sync might be handy though, I'm curious to see if you settle on a preferred method.

use nextcloud and megasync. Megasync's gotten weird over the last few updates, anI've had some unusual problems. I signed up years ago when they were giving 50gb storage free(I think it's now 15gb), so I keep it for that. If I didn't have so much free space, I'd probably dump it cause it's proprietary software. I have a small amount of nextcloud storage through my email provider, and it's worked flawlessly. Libre software, and it can be self hosted.

that is very very interesting.
guss that google now has 20 gigs free space - and i have to admit. i love it very much

edit:
A benefit of nextcloud is anyone can run it, and it's the same everywhere. If one didn't choose to self host, and bought service, the service provider can be changed in an instant if your provider became unsatisfactory for some reason. Of course your data is still on a foreign

very interesting..

server. It isn't magic, so you'd have to resync to the new server, but it's only a matter of changing addresses, and entering credentials.

i will digg deeper into all that - many many thanks for all you did


udpate:

found a very interesting article here:

How to Use Google Drive in Linux: No official Google Drive client is available. But, you have good alternative methods and tools to use it on Linux!

How to Use Google Drive in Linux

No official Google Drive client is available. But, you have good alternative methods and tools to use it on Linux!

itsfoss.com

Google Drive is one of the best free cloud storage services for Linux. It offers 15 GB of free storage which is shared across your Gmail account, Google Photos, and various Google and Android services. You can get a Google One subscription to extend that.

the above mentioned article discusses the following systems

1. Nautilus Integration with GNOME Online Accounts
2. KDE Plasma Integration with KIO Gdrive
3. Rclone: Rclone is actually more than just a Google Drive client. It is a command-line program to sync files and directories to and from various cloud storage services, including Google Drive, Dropbox, Amazon S3, OneDrive, etc

regards


i am very glad to be part of this great forum