--- title: "rclone sync" description: "Make source and dest identical, modifying destination only." slug: rclone_sync url: /commands/rclone_sync/ groups: Sync,Copy,Filter,Listing,Important # autogenerated - DO NOT EDIT, instead edit the source code in cmd/sync/ and as part of making a release run "make commanddocs" --- # rclone sync Make source and dest identical, modifying destination only. ## Synopsis Sync the source to the destination, changing the destination only. Doesn't transfer files that are identical on source and destination, testing by size and modification time or MD5SUM. Destination is updated to match source, including deleting files if necessary (except duplicate objects, see below). If you don't want to delete files from destination, use the [copy](/commands/rclone_copy/) command instead. **Important**: Since this can cause data loss, test first with the `--dry-run` or the `--interactive`/`-i` flag. rclone sync --interactive SOURCE remote:DESTINATION Note that files in the destination won't be deleted if there were any errors at any point. Duplicate objects (files with the same name, on those providers that support it) are also not yet handled. It is always the contents of the directory that is synced, not the directory itself. So when source:path is a directory, it's the contents of source:path that are copied, not the directory name and contents. See extended explanation in the [copy](/commands/rclone_copy/) command if unsure. If dest:path doesn't exist, it is created and the source:path contents go there. It is not possible to sync overlapping remotes. However, you may exclude the destination from the sync with a filter rule or by putting an exclude-if-present file inside the destination directory and sync to a destination that is inside the source directory. **Note**: Use the `-P`/`--progress` flag to view real-time transfer statistics **Note**: Use the `rclone dedupe` command to deal with "Duplicate object/directory found in source/destination - ignoring" errors. See [this forum post](https://forum.rclone.org/t/sync-not-clearing-duplicates/14372) for more info. ``` rclone sync source:path dest:path [flags] ``` ## Options ``` --create-empty-src-dirs Create empty source dirs on destination after sync -h, --help help for sync ``` ## Copy Options Flags for anything which can Copy a file. ``` --check-first Do all the checks before starting transfers -c, --checksum Skip based on checksum (if available) & size, not mod-time & size --compare-dest stringArray Include additional comma separated server-side paths during comparison --copy-dest stringArray Implies --compare-dest but also copies files from paths into destination --cutoff-mode string Mode to stop transfers when reaching the max transfer limit HARD|SOFT|CAUTIOUS (default "HARD") --ignore-case-sync Ignore case when synchronizing --ignore-checksum Skip post copy check of checksums --ignore-existing Skip all files that exist on destination --ignore-size Ignore size when skipping use mod-time or checksum -I, --ignore-times Don't skip files that match size and time - transfer all files --immutable Do not modify files, fail if existing files have been modified --inplace Download directly to destination file instead of atomic download to temp/rename --max-backlog int Maximum number of objects in sync or check backlog (default 10000) --max-duration Duration Maximum duration rclone will transfer data for (default 0s) --max-transfer SizeSuffix Maximum size of data to transfer (default off) -M, --metadata If set, preserve metadata when copying objects --modify-window Duration Max time diff to be considered the same (default 1ns) --multi-thread-cutoff SizeSuffix Use multi-thread downloads for files above this size (default 250Mi) --multi-thread-streams int Max number of streams to use for multi-thread downloads (default 4) --multi-thread-write-buffer-size SizeSuffix In memory buffer size for writing when in multi-thread mode (default 128Ki) --no-check-dest Don't check the destination, copy regardless --no-traverse Don't traverse destination file system on copy --no-update-modtime Don't update destination mod-time if files identical --order-by string Instructions on how to order the transfers, e.g. 'size,descending' --refresh-times Refresh the modtime of remote files --server-side-across-configs Allow server-side operations (e.g. copy) to work across different configs --size-only Skip based on size only, not mod-time or checksum --streaming-upload-cutoff SizeSuffix Cutoff for switching to chunked upload if file size is unknown, upload starts after reaching cutoff or when file ends (default 100Ki) -u, --update Skip files that are newer on the destination ``` ## Sync Options Flags just used for `rclone sync`. ``` --backup-dir string Make backups into hierarchy based in DIR --delete-after When synchronizing, delete files on destination after transferring (default) --delete-before When synchronizing, delete files on destination before transferring --delete-during When synchronizing, delete files during transfer --ignore-errors Delete even if there are I/O errors --max-delete int When synchronizing, limit the number of deletes (default -1) --max-delete-size SizeSuffix When synchronizing, limit the total size of deletes (default off) --suffix string Suffix to add to changed files --suffix-keep-extension Preserve the extension when using --suffix --track-renames When synchronizing, track file renames and do a server-side move if possible --track-renames-strategy string Strategies to use when synchronizing using track-renames hash|modtime|leaf (default "hash") ``` ## Important Options Important flags useful for most commands. ``` -n, --dry-run Do a trial run with no permanent changes -i, --interactive Enable interactive mode -v, --verbose count Print lots more stuff (repeat for more) ``` ## Filter Options Flags for filtering directory listings. ``` --delete-excluded Delete files on dest excluded from sync --exclude stringArray Exclude files matching pattern --exclude-from stringArray Read file exclude patterns from file (use - to read from stdin) --exclude-if-present stringArray Exclude directories if filename is present --files-from stringArray Read list of source-file names from file (use - to read from stdin) --files-from-raw stringArray Read list of source-file names from file without any processing of lines (use - to read from stdin) -f, --filter stringArray Add a file filtering rule --filter-from stringArray Read file filtering patterns from a file (use - to read from stdin) --ignore-case Ignore case in filters (case insensitive) --include stringArray Include files matching pattern --include-from stringArray Read file include patterns from file (use - to read from stdin) --max-age Duration Only transfer files younger than this in s or suffix ms|s|m|h|d|w|M|y (default off) --max-depth int If set limits the recursion depth to this (default -1) --max-size SizeSuffix Only transfer files smaller than this in KiB or suffix B|K|M|G|T|P (default off) --metadata-exclude stringArray Exclude metadatas matching pattern --metadata-exclude-from stringArray Read metadata exclude patterns from file (use - to read from stdin) --metadata-filter stringArray Add a metadata filtering rule --metadata-filter-from stringArray Read metadata filtering patterns from a file (use - to read from stdin) --metadata-include stringArray Include metadatas matching pattern --metadata-include-from stringArray Read metadata include patterns from file (use - to read from stdin) --min-age Duration Only transfer files older than this in s or suffix ms|s|m|h|d|w|M|y (default off) --min-size SizeSuffix Only transfer files bigger than this in KiB or suffix B|K|M|G|T|P (default off) ``` ## Listing Options Flags for listing directories. ``` --default-time Time Time to show if modtime is unknown for files and directories (default 2000-01-01T00:00:00Z) --fast-list Use recursive list if available; uses more memory but fewer transactions ``` See the [global flags page](/flags/) for global options not listed here. # SEE ALSO * [rclone](/commands/rclone/) - Show help for rclone commands, flags and backends.