Rclone Sync Vs Copy |verified| < EXTENDED ✧ >

A common point of confusion arises regarding overwriting .

| | | rclone sync | |---|---|---| | Deletes destination files | Never | Yes (if missing from source) | | Safe for one‑way replication | ✅ Yes (append‑only) | ✅ Yes (exact mirror) | | Risk of data loss | Very low | Low to moderate (depending on usage) | | Typical use case | Backup, archive, migration | Mirroring, deployments, cleanup | | Dry‑run recommended? | Optional | Strongly recommended | rclone sync vs copy

The sync command is more aggressive and powerful. Its goal is to make the destination an exact mirror of the source. When you run rclone sync source:path dest:path , rclone not only copies new and changed files but also files from the destination that no longer exist on the source. A common point of confusion arises regarding overwriting