---
title: Migrating Scaleway Object Storage data with Rclone
description: This page shows you how to migrate Scaleway Object Storage data from one region to another with Rclone
products:
- instances
- object-storage
tags: Rclone object-storage
dates:
validation: 2025-04-01
posted: 2019-03-20
validation_frequency: 12
difficulty: beginner
usecase:
- migration
ecosystem:
- third-party
---
import Requirements from '@macros/iam/requirements.mdx'
Rclone provides a modern alternative to `rsync`. The tool communicates with any Amazon S3-compatible cloud storage provider as well as other storage platforms and can be used to migrate data from one bucket to another, even if those buckets are in different regions.
- A Scaleway account logged into the [console](https://console.scaleway.com)
- [Owner](/iam/concepts/#owner) status or [IAM permissions](/iam/concepts/#permission) allowing you to perform actions in the intended Organization
- An [SSH key](/organizations-and-projects/how-to/create-ssh-key/)
- A valid [API key](/iam/how-to/create-api-keys/)
- An [Instance](/instances/how-to/create-an-instance/) running on Ubuntu Focal Fossa
- At least 2 [Object Storage buckets](/object-storage/how-to/create-a-bucket/)
- Installed and initialized the [Scaleway CLI](/scaleway-cli/quickstart/)
## Installing Rclone
1. Connect to your server as `root` via [SSH](/instances/how-to/connect-to-instance/).
2. Update the APT package cache and the software already installed on the Instance.
```
apt update && apt upgrade -y
```
3. Download and install Rclone with the following sequence of commands:
```
wget https://downloads.rclone.org/rclone-current-linux-amd64.zip
apt install zip
unzip rclone-current-linux-amd64.zip
cd rclone*linux-amd64/
mv rclone /usr/bin/
```
## Configuring Rclone
The Scaleway CLI allows you to create a configuration file for Rclone based on your [Scaleway CLI configuration](/scaleway-cli/quickstart/).
Creating a new configuration file using `scw object config install` will overwrite the existing one for the specified third party tool. To update an existing configuration, [generate a preview](/object-storage/api-cli/managing-lifecycle-cliv2/#previewing-an-object-storage-configuration-file-for-the-scaleway-cli) and manually edit the configuration file.
Run the following command in a terminal to install a configuration file for Rclone:
```
scw object config install type=rclone
```
An output similar to the following displays:
```
Configuration file successfully installed at /Users/yourusername/.config/rclone/rclone.conf.
```
## Migrating data
Two commands can be used to migrate data from one backend to another.
- The `copy` command copies data from source to destination.
```
rclone copy --progress : :
```
For example, the following command copies data from a bucket named `my-first-bucket` in the `remote-sw-paris` remote backend that we previously set up, to another bucket named `my-second-bucket` in the same remote backend. The `--progress` flag allows us to follow the progress of the transfer:
```
rclone copy --progress remote-sw-paris:my-first-bucket remote-sw-paris:my-second-bucket
```
- The `sync` command copies data from one backend to another, but also deletes objects in the destination that are not present in the source:
```
rclone sync --progress : :
```
The following command copies data from a bucket named `my-first-bucket` in the `remote-sw-paris` remote backend that we previously set up, to another bucket named `my-third-bucket` in a different remote backend that we configured for the `nl-ams` region and named `remote-sw-ams`. It also deletes any data present in `my-third-bucket` that isn't also present in `my-first-bucket`:
```
rclone sync --progress remote-sw-paris:my-first-bucket remote-sw-ams:my-third-bucket
```
This migration may incur costs from the Object Storage tool you are migrating **from** since they may or may not bill egress bandwidth.
For further information, and to discover other commands available, refer to the official [RClone S3 Object Storage Documentation](https://rclone.org/s3/).
## Transferring data to Scaleway Glacier
When you `copy` or `sync`, you can determine which storage class you wish to transfer your data to.
At Scaleway you can choose from two classes:
- `STANDARD`: The Standard class for any upload; suitable for on-demand content
like streaming or CDN.
- `GLACIER`: Archived, long-term retention storage.
If the storage class is not specified, the data will be transferred as `STANDARD` by default.
To transfer data to Scaleway Glacier class, add `--s3-storage-class=GLACIER` to your command, as such:
```
rclone copy --progress --s3-storage-class=GLACIER : :
```
You can verify the storage class of the transferred data by accessing your bucket on the Scaleway console.
## Offsite backup
The `sync` command from rclone should be preferred to `copy` because it deletes files from the destination.
First, create the `rclone.conf`:
```
[other-provider]
type = s3
provider =
env_auth = false
access_key_id = xxxx
secret_access_key = xxxx
endpoint =
region =
location_constraint =
[scw-fr-par]
type = s3
provider = Scaleway
env_auth = false
access_key_id = xxxx
secret_access_key = xxxx
endpoint = https://s3.fr-par.scw.cloud
region = fr-par
[scw-nl-ams]
type = s3
provider = Scaleway
env_auth = false
access_key_id = xxxx
secret_access_key = xxxx
endpoint = https://s3.nl-ams.scw.cloud
region = nl-ams
```
Then sync buckets from your other Object Storage provider -> SCW and SCW -> SCW:
```bash
# sync from the other Object Storage provider to Scaleway (nl-ams)
rclone --config rclone.conf sync other-provider://my-bucket/my-key-prefix scw-nl-ams://my-bucket/my-key-prefix
# sync from Scaleway (fr-par) to Scaleway (nl-ams)
rclone --config rclone.conf sync scw-fr-par://my-bucket/my-key-prefix scw-nl-ams://my-bucket/my-key-prefix
```