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ResearchDrive - Transferring Data from Google Workspace to ResearchDrive

This document explains several ways to transfer data from Google Workspace to ResearchDrive. If you only have a small amount of data to transfer (less than 5-10 GBs) consider using the Google Drive client. If you have larger amounts of data to transfer then consider rclone.

Transferring Data with the Google Drive client

The Google Drive for desktop client is an easy to use tool for transferring small amounts of data from Google Drive to ResearchDrive. This method requires the installation of the Google Drive for desktop client so you may need assistance from your IT support team.

  1. Install the Google Drive for desktop client on the computer you want to use to transfer data.
  2. Find the data that you want to transfer using the Google Drive for desktop client. Refer to Google Drive for desktop for assistance.
  3. Connect to ResearchDrive and transfer the data from Google Drive using the Drive for desktop client.

Transferring Data from Google Drive with rclone

rclone is a command line tool that can sync data between multiple storage providers. This method requires the installation of the rclone client so you may need assistance from your IT support team.  Note, if you are working off-campus with a slow internet connection then consider signing up for a free account on the new UW Remote Desktop Service which will provide remote access to a computer on the UW Campus Network with a fast connection that can be used to transfer the data with rclone.

  1. Install rclone. If you use the Remote Desktop Service, follow the "Full Desktop Session" instructions in the Remote Desktop Service Connection then once you are connected to the Remote Desktop Service, download rclone to your home directory (it does not need to be installed on the server).
  2. Configure your Google Drive account for rclone by running the command "rclone config" and selecting Google Drive.
    • n/s/q> n (New remote)
    • name> googledrive
    • Storage> 16 (Google Drive)
    • client_id> (leave blank or create a client_id)
    • client_secret> (leave blank)
    • scope> (1 for full read/write access or 2 for read only access
    • root_folder_id> (leave blank)
    • advanced_config> n
    • auto config> y
    • Login to your Google Drive account in the web browser that pops up with your UW NetID credentials.
    • Grant rclone access to Google Drive at the prompt then return to the rclone window
    • team_drive> (y if this is a Shared Drive
    • token accept> y
    • quit config> q
    • Enter "rclone about googledrive:" at the command prompt to check the size of the Google Drive
  3. Connect to ResearchDrive.
  4. Use rclone to transfer data from Google Drive to ResearchDrive "rclone move googledrive:/path /researchdrive/path" see rclone docs for more details.


Keywordsresearch drive shared shareddrive googledrive google gsuite suite transfer data rclone client map network backup download cloud data storage files folders sync rsync   Doc ID127009
OwnerCasey S.GroupUW-Madison Research Data
Created2023-03-31 13:53:58Updated2023-10-16 12:51:19
SitesUW-Madison Research Data
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