Archive Google Drive Files to S3 Glacier — Long-Term Storage at 90% Lower Cost with RcloneView
You're paying $10/month for 2 TB of Google Drive, but 80% of those files haven't been opened in a year. Move them to S3 Glacier for $1/TB/month and cut your storage bill dramatically.
Google Drive pricing is designed for active files — documents you open daily, files you share with colleagues. But most Google Drive accounts accumulate years of files that are never accessed: old project folders, completed work, archived photos, outdated documents. These files sit on expensive storage when they could be on S3 Glacier at a fraction of the cost.
Manage & Sync All Clouds in One Place
RcloneView is a cross-platform GUI for rclone. Compare folders, transfer or sync files, and automate multi-cloud workflows with a clean, visual interface.
- One-click jobs: Copy · Sync · Compare
- Schedulers & history for reliable automation
- Works with Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, S3, WebDAV, SFTP and more
Free core features. Plus automations available.
Cost Comparison
| Storage | Price per TB/month |
|---|---|
| Google Drive (One) | ~$5 |
| Google Workspace Business | ~$6 |
| S3 Standard | ~$23 |
| S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval | ~$4 |
| S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval | ~$3.6 |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | ~$1 |
Moving 1 TB of inactive files from Google Drive to Glacier Deep Archive saves ~$48/year.
What to Archive
Good candidates for Glacier:
- Completed project folders (older than 6 months)
- Tax documents and financial records (after filing)
- Old photo/video backups
- Former employee data
- Archived team files
Bad candidates (keep on Google Drive):
- Active documents and spreadsheets
- Shared collaboration files
- Files opened weekly or monthly
Archive Process
1) Identify archive candidates
Browse your Google Drive in the explorer and identify folders that haven't been accessed recently:
2) Transfer to S3 Glacier
Create a Copy job from Google Drive to your S3 bucket configured with a Glacier storage class:
3) Verify the archive
4) Delete from Google Drive
Only after verification. This frees up your Google Drive storage quota.
5) Schedule regular archival
Set up monthly archival runs for new candidates:
Important Notes
- Glacier retrieval costs money and takes time — Glacier Instant Retrieval provides fast access; Deep Archive can take 12+ hours
- Minimum storage duration — Glacier charges for early deletion (90-180 days depending on class)
- Verify before deleting — always confirm the archive is complete before removing from Drive
Getting Started
- Download RcloneView from rcloneview.com.
- Add Google Drive and S3 remotes.
- Identify inactive files on Google Drive.
- Copy to Glacier, verify, then clean up Drive.
Active files on Drive. Everything else on Glacier.
Related Guides:
Supported Cloud Providers
