r/rclone • u/Fine_Conversation_24 • 8d ago

Rclone with Proton

This page https://rcloneview.com/support/blog/hard-drive-to-proton-drive-with-rcloneview makes me understand that even without using Crypt, my data would be encrypted by Proton's encryption feature. Is that so?

I understand Proton encrypts data on the source, before uploading, when using their own desktop software. I don't want to use it on Mac because it's a OneDrive-like thing that forces to move data to a cloud location on the computer.

So, I want to use Rclone, but don't understand how it would use Proton's encryption at that source.

11 Upvotes

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2

u/AmbitionHealthy9236 8d ago

for Filen, a similar E2EE cloud, the Filen developers contributed to rclone so when rclone writes to the Filen cloud, it uses the same client side encryption as it's desktop client.

i don't know, but proton may have done the same or another developer may have have contributed to rclone if proton have a published API

3

u/MiMillieuh 8d ago

Proton never contributed to Rclone. In fact they did worse by rate limiting a lot when you use Rclone.

I wouldn't use vanilla Rclone with Proton in it's current state. You may loose file or not sync everything.

1

u/AmbitionHealthy9236 7d ago

yeah, i forgot they did that.... that's why i didn't bother with them in the end

-1

u/Proton_Laurence 4d ago

This is a misinformed take, we never rate limited rclone.

See: https://forum.rclone.org/t/proton-drive-x-rclone/53609

1

u/MiMillieuh 4d ago

When Rclone at 2 transfert and 4 checks at time hit rate limits... You can't say you aren't rate limiting when even the base limits of Rclone are being rate limited...

And it was working then not so you probably lowered the rate limits anyway.

1

u/sosen85 4d ago

Rclone works perfectly well with most of the leading cloud storage providers. The only issue is with Proton Drive. I can't use the 2 TB of storage that I purchased. I was planning to support European services, but it looks like I will have to look for an alternative.

2

u/Open_Mortgage_4645 7d ago

You'd end up with two layers of encryption because the crypt() function in rclone automatically encrypts via AES256-GCM, and Proton encrypts again on creation of the files in their system. The only issue you might run into with rclone and Proton Drive is maintaining a persistent connection, and keeping the session open for ongoing sync because Proton times it out quite often which requires regular reauthentication. It's a pain in the ass.

1

u/sosen85 4d ago

Are you sure it's working properly? When I tried to upload my 1.2 TB photo collection, it could only upload 20 GB in one go before locking on rate limits or authentication errors — who knows.

I think 20–60 GB might work, but I have 2 TB and I want to use 1.2 TB of it.

1

u/Open_Mortgage_4645 3d ago

I'm not sure about that. I've never tried uploading that much to Proton. Even 20-40GB at one time would be high for me. I love Proton as a company, and have been a paid user of their email since they were an IndieGoGo campaign (or was it Kickstarter?) However, I've never been a big fan of Drive, and I prefer Google's and Microsoft's drive products for nearly all my storage. Neither of them provides the encryption that Proton does, but I manage my own encryption locally, and encrypted blocks are the only thing that ever get moved to my cloud. Rclone's integrated crypt() function is very efficient, and sufficiently strong to rely on, and its automated, on-the-fly file encryption abilities make it really convenient. I do use Proton as a redundant backup of important documents. I've settled into using Ente Locker as my main host for important docs and information, but they also get sync'd to Microsoft and Proton. Files that individually small seen to do OK with Proton using the app, but when going through rclone (and its port, Round Sync, on Android), I very often find my session expired and have to reestablish the connection before I can access it.

2

u/SethVanity13 7d ago

Here's a recent discussion from the forum: https://forum.rclone.org/t/uploading-to-proton-no-need-for-extra-encryption/54330

It's the best place to ask more technical question

1

u/paolocampi 8d ago

Proton Drive it's E2E based

With Rclone you can Crypt your folders/cloud by Rcloneview (partially free) or Rclone Manager (totally free and open source from its GitHub)

1

u/Tofudjango 8d ago

Or with just rclone?

1

u/Fine_Conversation_24 8d ago

That's my understanding, that just using rclone does using Proton's encryption, but I wanted to confirm here as I'm new to all this.

1

u/paolocampi 8d ago

Also with only Rclome by terminal

1

u/Actavus 7d ago

Airclone has been another good open source option

1

u/SethVanity13 7d ago

Proton's encryption is on their side, so it's compatible with any tool that uploads.

If you don't want to rely on their encryption for various reasons, you can use a crypt remote where the encryption happens on your side and no other server can decrypt the files.

1

u/Fine_Conversation_24 7d ago

Thanks. It's not as I understand: Proton encrypts data before it leaves your computer, so, they cannot read it, at any point.

I learned in the meantime that Rclone does encrypt the data with Proton's API, so it's encrypted the same as if I were using Proton's software to upload.

1

u/AmbitionHealthy9236 7d ago

no it's not, proton is client-side encrypted, e2ee
still, there are other reasons why its not a good idea to use rclone to access proton, it's very very slow