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Multi-Cloud Backup Strategy with RcloneView: Google Drive, OneDrive, S3, and NAS

· 4 min read
Tayson
Tayson
Senior Engineer

Keep redundant copies across clouds and on-prem without scripting. RcloneView gives you a GUI for Google Drive, OneDrive, S3-compatible storage, and NAS so you can design nightly backups, verify checksums, and monitor retries from one place.

RcloneView app preview

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
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multi cloud backup with rcloneview

Why multi-cloud backup?​

  • Resilience: One provider outage or account lockout won’t halt access to your data.
  • Cost control: Mix low-cost object storage (S3/Wasabi) with collaboration clouds (Google Drive/OneDrive).
  • Performance: Keep a nearby NAS copy for fast restores, while keeping a cloud copy for off-site safety.
  • Compliance: Separate copies reduce single points of failure and simplify retention policies.

What you can back up with RcloneView​

  • Google Drive / Shared Drives (OAuth, no tokens to paste).
  • OneDrive / SharePoint (OAuth).
  • S3-compatible: Amazon S3, Wasabi, Cloudflare R2, Backblaze B2 (access/secret keys).
  • NAS / SMB / NFS: mount as a local path, or use SFTP/SMB remotes.
  • External drives for offline or air-gapped copies.

👉 Remote setup references:

Sync vs. Backup: choose the right mode​

  • Sync (two-way or directional): keeps source and destination matched. Ideal for working sets but can propagate deletes. Use with care for backups.
  • Backup-style one-way copy: copy new/changed files only; do not delete at destination. Safer for historical backups.
  • Versioned/object storage: pair one-way copy with S3 bucket versioning to retain prior versions.

Tip: Start with one-way copy to a backup target; add pruning only after you confirm retention rules.

Build an automated backup job (example: Drive → S3 → NAS)​

  1. Open Remote → + New Remote and add Google Drive, OneDrive, and S3.
  2. In Browse, open your source (e.g., Google Drive) in the left pane and target (S3 bucket) in the right pane.
  3. Click Sync (or Copy via toolbar) and choose one-way source → destination.
  4. Set filters: exclude temp/cache folders, include key folders, and enable checksum if the target supports it.
  5. Click Save to Jobs and name it (e.g., drive-to-s3-backup).
  6. Repeat for OneDrive → S3 or S3 → NAS if you want a local secondary copy.

Verify backup integrity (checksum)​

  • Enable checksum in Sync/Copy options when the destination supports it (S3, Wasabi, many NAS targets).
  • For large initial runs, keep --ignore-times off so RcloneView uses size/time plus checksums for verification.
  • Spot-check results with Compare to confirm hashes and sizes before deleting any source data.

Schedule nightly backups (daily 02:00)​

  1. Open Job Manager → Add Job.
  2. Select your saved job (e.g., drive-to-s3-backup).
  3. Set schedule to Daily at 02:00.
  4. Enable the job; RcloneView will run it automatically.
  5. Optional: stagger multiple jobs (Drive → S3 at 02:00, OneDrive → S3 at 02:30, S3 → NAS at 03:00) to avoid bandwidth contention.

👉 Learn more: Job Scheduling and Execution

Monitor failures and retries​

  • Open the Transfer tab during runs to watch throughput and retry counts.
  • Check Job History/Logs to see which files failed and why (HTTP status, throttling, quota).
  • For 429/5xx errors, lower concurrency or apply bandwidth limits to reduce throttling.
  • Re-run the job; only missing/changed files will transfer thanks to hashing and timestamps.

Best practices for a reliable multi-cloud backup​

  • Keep at least 2–3 copies across different providers/media.
  • Use one-way copy to backup targets; avoid propagating deletes until you have confirmed retention.
  • For S3/Wasabi, enable bucket versioning plus lifecycle rules for cost control.
  • On NAS, ensure the volume has sufficient snapshots or RAID protection.
  • Periodically test restores from each target to validate integrity and permissions.
  • Document schedules and destinations so audits and handoffs are easy.

Summary​

RcloneView makes multi-cloud backups practical: connect Google Drive, OneDrive, S3, Wasabi, and NAS; design one-way copy or sync flows; enable checksum verification; and schedule nightly runs—all without CLI scripts. With clear logs and retries, you can maintain redundant copies and recover quickly when something goes wrong.