Alternative method to back up data using Rclone

What is Rclone?

Rclone is a command-line program to manage files on cloud storage. It is a feature-rich alternative to cloud vendors' web storage interfaces. Over 70 cloud storage products support rclone, including S3 object stores, business & consumer file storage services, and standard transfer protocols.

Official website: https://rclone.org/

Why Rclone?

The following links will take you to Vast.ai, which already offers official documents for copying from and to multiple cloud storages:

https://docs.vast.ai/documentation/instances/storage/cloud-sync

https://docs.vast.ai/documentation/instances/storage/cloud-backups

This article discusses the benefits of using Rclone as an alternate data backup method.

How can we utilize Rclone in Vast.ai instances?

The majority of Vast.ai's templates already have rclones installed. Open Jupyter Terminal and enter "rclone version" to confirm the version.

(main) root@C.xxxxxxx:/workspace$ rclone version
rclone v1.60.1-DEV
- os/version: ubuntu 24.04 (64 bit)
- os/kernel: 6.8.0-59-generic (x86_64)
- os/type: linux
- os/arch: amd64
- go/version: go1.22.2
- go/linking: dynamic
- go/tags: none

For some cloud storages, the old version of Rclone may not work, so it is suggested to upgrade rclone to the latest version using this command: sudo -v ; curl https://rclone.org/install.sh | sudo bash

(main) root@C.xxxxxxxx:/workspace$ sudo -v ; curl https://rclone.org/install.sh | sudo bash
  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
100  4734  100  4734    0     0   6164      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:--  6164
Archive:  rclone-current-linux-amd64.zip
   creating: tmp_unzip_dir_for_rclone/rclone-v1.72.1-linux-amd64/
   
  rclone v1.72.1 has successfully installed.
Now run "rclone config" for setup. Check https://rclone.org/docs/ for more details.

In addition to the official cloud storage services that Vast.ai supports, Onedrive is utilized as an alternate cloud storage solution in this article.

In the terminal, type 'rclone config' ==> type 'n' to creat a new cloud storage config ==> Enter the name 'onedrive' as an example

(main) root@C.xxxxxxxx:/workspace$ rclone config
2026/01/09 07:09:20 NOTICE: Config file "/root/.config/rclone/rclone.conf" not found - using defaults
No remotes found, make a new one?
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n

Enter name for new remote.
name> onedrive

Choose the desired number from the list of supported cloud storages. In this case, "38" stands for OneDrive.

Follow the below commands to continue

Storage> 38

Option client_id.
OAuth Client Id.
Leave blank normally.
Enter a value. Press Enter to leave empty.
client_id> 

Option client_secret.
OAuth Client Secret.
Leave blank normally.
Enter a value. Press Enter to leave empty.
client_secret> 

Option region.
Choose national cloud region for OneDrive.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value of type string.
Press Enter for the default (global).
 1 / Microsoft Cloud Global
   \ (global)
 2 / Microsoft Cloud for US Government
   \ (us)
 3 / Microsoft Cloud Germany (deprecated - try global region first).
   \ (de)
 4 / Azure and Office 365 operated by Vnet Group in China
   \ (cn)
region> 1

Option tenant.
ID of the service principal's tenant. Also called its directory ID.
Set this if using
- Client Credential flow
Enter a value. Press Enter to leave empty.
tenant> 

Edit advanced config?
y) Yes
n) No (default)
y/n> 

Since the Vast.ai instance is a headless environment, "N" ought to be chosen when prompted.

Use web browser to automatically authenticate rclone with remote?
 * Say Y if the machine running rclone has a web browser you can use
 * Say N if running rclone on a (remote) machine without web browser access
If not sure try Y. If Y failed, try N.

y) Yes (default)
n) No
y/n> n

Option config_token.
For this to work, you will need rclone available on a machine that has
a web browser available.
For more help and alternate methods see: https://rclone.org/remote_setup/
Execute the following on the machine with the web browser (same rclone
version recommended):
        rclone authorize "onedrive"
Then paste the result.
Enter a value.
config_token> 

Get the most recent Rclone version from https://rclone.org/downloads/ on a GUI-enabled system. Windows is used in this article.

Extract the zip file, open Windows terminal and navigate to the extracted folder. Type .\rclone authorize "onedrive" following the instruction of rclone in the previous step

The default browser will open; please sign in. Go back to the Windows terminal and copy the complete access token after the login was successful.

Paste the copied value into the Jupyter Terminal.

Continue to the following steps.

Option config_type.
Type of connection
Choose a number from below, or type in an existing value of type string.
Press Enter for the default (onedrive).
 1 / OneDrive Personal or Business
   \ (onedrive)
 2 / Root Sharepoint site
   \ (sharepoint)
   / Sharepoint site name or URL
 3 | E.g. mysite or https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/mysite
   \ (url)
 4 / Search for a Sharepoint site
   \ (search)
 5 / Type in driveID (advanced)
   \ (driveid)
 6 / Type in SiteID (advanced)
   \ (siteid)
   / Sharepoint server-relative path (advanced)
 7 | E.g. /teams/hr
   \ (path)
config_type> 1

Option config_driveid.
Select drive you want to use
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value of type string.
Press Enter for the default (xxxxxxxxxxxxxx).
 1 / OneDrive (personal)
   \ (xxxxxxxxxxxx)
 2 / ODCMetadataArchive (personal)
   \ (xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx)
 3 / xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (personal)
   \ (xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx)
 4 / xxxxxxxxxxxxx (personal)
   \ (xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx)
 5 / xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (personal)
   \ (xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx)
config_driveid> 1

Drive OK?

Found drive "root" of type "personal"
URL: https://onedrive.live.com?cid=xxxxxxxxxxxxxx&id=xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

y) Yes (default)
n) No
y/n> 

Configuration complete.
Options:
- type: onedrive
- token: {"access_token":"xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx","expiry":"2026-01-09T15:35:30.6537323+07:00","expires_in":3599}
- drive_id: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- drive_type: personal
Keep this "onedrive" remote?
y) Yes this is OK (default)
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> 

Current remotes:

Name                 Type
====                 ====
onedrive             onedrive

e) Edit existing remote
n) New remote
d) Delete remote
r) Rename remote
c) Copy remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
e/n/d/r/c/s/q> q
(main) root@C.xxxxxxx:/workspace$ 

To sync the data, simply type rclone sync onedrive:/Vast.ai/ /workspace/ -P

The addition of -P indicates the synchoronization/copying progress.

(main) root@C.xxxxxxx:/workspace$ rclone sync onedrive:/Vast.ai/ /workspace/ -P
2026/01/09 07:51:30 NOTICE: .venv-backups/xxxxxx/venv-main-latest.txt: Can't follow symlink without -L/--copy-links
Transferred:              0 B / 0 B, -, 0 B/s, ETA -
Checks:                 2 / 2, 100%, Listed 6
Deleted:                2 (files), 3 (dirs), 1.084 KiB (freed)
Transferred:            1 / 1, 100%
Elapsed time:        10.6s
(main) root@C.xxxxx:/workspace$ ls
Test2.txt

For more commands, please check the official document: https://rclone.org/commands

Notice

The bandwidth limit should be considered when downloading or uploading data from various sources. A sample of the limitations is shown below; for more information and precise figures, visit the official cloud provider website.

Updated on: 09/01/2026