Which are the best tools to use Google Drive on Linux?

[otrott]

good day dear friends,

i am happy with EndeavourOS - is is a awesome experience. i have to say - i love EndeavourOS
i want to use Google Drive - and i want to share a folder of my local hdd, Is this possible!?

Question: which are the best tools to use Google Drive on Linux? - which tools do you use?

in other words: how to use Google Drive with a desktop clients for Linux: here a little list along with some other hacks: Ideas and thoughts taken from https://itsfoss.com/use-google-drive-linux/

1. Insync
Insync is the most feature-rich Google Drive desktop client available out there. It’s available for all major Linux distros and the installation process straightforward. Furthermore, it offers a beautiful GUI as well as a command-line interface. is it available for EndeavourOS as well!?
Well the remarkable downside is that Insync is neither free nor open-source.

2. Rclone
Rclone is actually more than just a Google Drive client. It is a command-line program to sync files and directories to and from various cloud storage services, including Google Drive; is it available for EndeavourOS as well!?

3. Drive
This one’s a little interesting. Drive was originally developed by Burcu Dogan, while working on Google Drive platform’s team. So, this is the closest thing we have to an official client. This tool is a true command-line tool written with GO programming language. It doesn’t have a background sync feature. Not only that but it’s designed to upload/download files in a push/pull style.

4. GNOME
i do use KDE but there is also a GNOMEversion for the desktop environment, Starting from version 3.18, GNOME has baked in a Google Drive feature in their file manager Nautilus. We can add a Google Account in GNOME Online Accounts, Then the Nautilus will automatically have Google Drive added to its sidebar as a remote filesystem. So we can say: It’s not actually a desktop client.

5. KDE
i use KDE on EnedavourOS: There is a KDE Plasma Desktop environment also provides a Google Drive integration to its file manager Dolphin. It is achieved through KIO GDrive, a KIO-Slave that enables KIO-aware applications (such as Dolphin, Kate, or Gwenview) to access and edit Google Drive files on the cloud. It is available to install from all native repositories. Furthermore, it requires signing in with KDE Online Accounts to access the drive. Unlike the Gnome counterpart, this one loads the GDrive directory under the network directory. Each time we try to modify a file, it is copied to a local cache directory. Once you finish modifying a file, it will prompt you to upload the modified file to GDrive.

thoughts and images taken from https://itsfoss.com/use-google-drive-linux/ - which is published under the share alike https://itsfoss.com/copyright/ - content and the images on It’s FOSS are under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

but there is more:
See also FUSE filesystem over Google Drive https://astrada.github.io/google-drive-ocamlfuse/
There is another option, is VGrive, so much good for Manjaro Linux for example: https://github.com/bcedu/VGrive

the purposes: - and the usecase:
i look for a tool to use it for everyday purposes.
i want to share a folder - is it possible that i do this “sharing” automatically - each day!`
i want to do some cool things like drag & drop file uploading, opening Google Drive files directly from my notebook (Nautilus), copying files from Google Drive to my local filesystem, etc.
i look for a tool that is actively maintained.

btw: i there a complete guide for Drive on its GitHub project.

Question: which are the best tools to use Google Drive on Linux? - which tools do you use?

look forward to hear from you yours Otrott
- a true lover of EnedavourOS

[r0ckhopper]

@otrott

Insync … is it available for EndeavourOS as well!?

It’s in the AUR https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/insync so yay -S insync will install it.

[r0ckhopper]

@otrott

Question: which tools do you use?

Currently I’m not using Google Drive much, so I only have kio-gdrive for access through Dolphin. If I’m using it more heavily, I sometimes install Insync.

[pycrk]

I have not used such tools until now, but I am very interested in the question as I have several cloud drives and I would like to synchronize them with all my devices. recently accidentally discovered spacedrive. the description sounds good and that would be exactly the software i need for my case, but unfortunately the software is still in development.

To be developed (Post-MVP):

• Cloud integration - Index & backup to Apple Photos, Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive & Mega + easy API for the community to add more.

Spacedrive

@Kresimir btw it’s written in rust

[r0ckhopper]

@otrott

Rclone … is it available for EndeavourOS as well!?

Never personally used it, but it’s available in the Arch repos: https://archlinux.org/packages/community/x86_64/rclone/

[otrott]

hello dear @r0ckhopper and @pycrk

many thanks for the replies: awesome:

thanks for mentioning that insync is on AUR available: It’s in the AUR https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/insync so yay -S insync will install it.

Interesting also: >

but I am very interested in the question as I have several cloud drives and I would like to synchronize them with all my devices. recently accidentally discovered spacedrive. the description sounds good and that would be exactly the software i need for my case,
but unfortunately the software is still in development

i ve added som pictures - also taken form the same source. Well i am interested in a tool and solution that supports the day to day usage - to share some folders with google-drive

[otrott]

the question is: How to mount Google Drive in KDE’s Dolphin file manager,

While not a filesystem mount via the Linux kernel KIO GDrive (part of KDE)
still enables KIO-aware applications (such as the Dolphin file manager, Kate editor,
or Gwenview image viewer, etc.) to access, navigate, and edit Google Drive files.

i have heard that kio-gdrive is available as a package in several Linux distributions. i hope that in endeavourOS too.

some friends told me that if installed, the Dolphin file manager will get an entry “Google Drive” under “Network”.
Well - how to proceed: can i continue as a (unprivileged) desktop user to ‘mount’ a Google Drive account via a guided graphical configuration?

image taken from https://apps.kde.org/de/kio_gdrive/

[Kresimir]

I don’t use Clown-based storage. People forget, but that’s just somebody else’s computer.

[pebcak]

@otrott

i have heard that kio-gdrive is available as a package in several Linux distributions. i hope that in endeavourOS too.

The bulk of EnOS’ packages come from ArchLinux repos.
However, EnOS has its own repository with several packages as well:

GitHub - endeavouros-team/PKGBUILDS: PKGBUILDS for packages used in our...

You could use pacman and/or yay (for both repos and AUR) to search for packages:

pacman -Ss PACKAGE
yay -Ss PACKAGE

EX:

yay -Ss insync
yay -Ss kio-gdrive
pacman -Ss kio-gdrive

[mrvictory]

best tools to use google drive on linux

Google “google drive as swap space”

You don’t need anything since

that’s just somebody else’s computer.

[r0ckhopper]

First of all, install kio-gdrive with sudo pacman -S kio-gdrive (kio-gdrive is in the Arch repos https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x86_64/kio-gdrive/)

Then, open up System Settings and go to the Online Accounts section. Under Add New Account, click on Google and follow the process in the popup window to sign in to your Google account and give KDE some permissions to access it.

Finally, open up Dolphin and click on Network in the panel on the left. Click (double click if you have that set) on the Google Drive folder and then on the folder with name of your Google account. Your Google Drive folders & files should be visible and accessible.

[otrott]

hi - many thanks for all your ideas , tipps and hints. This is just awesome.
i am so glad to be part of this awesome forum

You saved my day - KEEP up the awesome work here.
the EndeavourOS is a awesome OS - and the community is even better…

[Mike09]

I use rclone, but in my opinion it’s meant more for heavy-duty data transfer than end-user dynamic access. You can install a basic GUI for it but it’s not the same as having it integrated into your file manager.

[Shjim]

Better. No use Google drive

[galvez_65]

I use Rclone’s mount feature and just mount it when I need it. Rclone is a really handy feature right tool.

And as EOS is just Arch everything is available in EOS, either through the Arch repos, the AUR or just role your own PKGBUILD. I would encourage you to read up on how to build a package for those rare occasions that something isn’t in the AUR.

[nickmic26]

Hi Kresimir, maybe off-topic, but I only use Clown-based storage… People forget that its not just where you store your precious data that matters, its how you backup / recover / secure your data so you can get to it: from anywhere / when your computer breaks or gets hacked / get to an older version if it gets messed up or get to it at the same time as others.

In a sense, data that is not in a ‘Clown’ is data that at risk. I used to use a QNAP server for backup, they are now so much under attack that I gave up.

So, I have data in Google Drive, One Drive and Dropbox. I also sync between them using a cloud service (CloudHQ).

So, otrott’s question is really important - you can access the data easily using a browser, but its really messy to download files to use a Linux Desktop app. A cloud service plug-in to Nautilus or Dolphin seems the best approach to me. This approach is used in the Chromebook Files app - I have been using Chromebook for the last couple of years and am now trying out EndeavourOS to see if I can get the same or better productivity.

[Kresimir]

@nickmic26

In a sense, data that is not in a ‘Clown’ is data that at risk.

This is the most Orwellian thing I’ve read today.

It’s almost as absurd as saying: “any money that is not in a bank is at risk.”

[keybreak]

@Kresimir

This is the most Orwellian thing I’ve read today.

Daaamn…even after all the stuff i’ve sent you today in PM?!
Well yeah, that’s pretty Orwellian.

[nickmic26]

@Kresimir

This is the most Orwellian thing I’ve read today.

It’s almost as absurd as saying: “any money that is not in a bank is at risk.”

I guess 20 years as a systems engineer has made me this way

[wavemop]

I did that and it works perfectly fine in nautilus.
But if I try to “open” a file in it, lets say with KeepassXC → open Database-File, the network-part isn’t listed in the “open”-Dialog at all. Only mounted Devices and the home folder stuff.
So do I really have to use something like an rclone-solution additionally to kio-drive to open my KP-Database in GDrive?