This guide explains how to import data from iCloud Drive or iCloud Photos to kDrive Infomaniak using rclone.

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Introduction

• This method is intended for advanced users who want to transfer data from iCloud to kDrive without manually copying files one by one.
• rclone allows you to configure an iCloud Drive or iCloud Photos source, and then a kDrive destination via WebDAV.
• Accessing iCloud with rclone requires the usual Apple ID password and two-factor Apple authentication. Apple application passwords are not accepted for this configuration.
• iCloud authentication may need to be renewed periodically with rclone reconnect or rclone config.
• The rclone copy command copies files to kDrive without deleting them from the source iCloud.

1. Install rclone

rclone can be installed via the command line. On macOS, Linux, or BSD, open the Terminal application and run the following command:

sudo -v ; curl https://rclone.org/install.sh | sudo bash

Refer to the official rclone installation guide if necessary, especially for Windows or for a manual installation.

Once the installation is complete, verify that rclone responds correctly:

rclone version

2. Configure the iCloud source in rclone

1. In Terminal, start the rclone configuration:

   rclone config

2. Choose n to create a new remote drive.

3. Give this source an explicit name, for example:

   iCloudDrive

4. Choose the storage type iclouddrive.
5. To import documents stored in iCloud Drive, keep the default service drive.
6. To import items from iCloud Photos, choose the photos service or create a second dedicated remote drive, for example iCloudPhotos.
7. Enter your Apple ID, which is usually an email address.
8. Choose to enter your own password, then enter your usual Apple ID password.
9. Answer n to advanced configuration, unless you have a specific need.
10. Validate the connection from your trusted Apple device, then enter the two-factor authentication code when rclone asks for it.
11. When the summary is correct, answer y to save the configuration.

Verify that the iCloud source is accessible:

rclone lsd iCloudDrive:

If you have configured a source dedicated to iCloud Photos, verify it as well:

rclone lsd iCloudPhotos:

3. Configure the kDrive destination in rclone

kDrive must be configured in rclone as a WebDAV storage.

1. Rerun the configuration if you are no longer in the rclone menu:

   rclone config

2. Choose n to create a new remote drive.

3. Give the destination an explicit name, for example:

   kDrive

4. Choose the storage type webdav.
5. For the URL, enter the direct WebDAV access to your kDrive:

https://ID_KDRIVE.connect.kdrive.infomaniak.com/

• Replace ID_KDRIVE with your kDrive ID; refer to this other guide if needed.

1. For the WebDAV provider (vendor), choose other.
2. For the user (user), enter the email address used to log in to your Infomaniak user account.
3. For the password, enter:
   • an application password if two-factor authentication is enabled on your Infomaniak account;
   • the password for your Infomaniak user account if two-factor authentication is not enabled.
4. Leave the bearer_token field blank.

• Answer n to the advanced configuration prompt, unless you have a specific need.

[kDrive]
type = webdav
url = https://ID_KDRIVE.connect.kdrive.infomaniak.com/
vendor = other
user = user@example.com
pass = PASSWORD_STORED_BY_RCLONE

The resulting configuration will look like this in the rclone configuration file:

rclone lsd kDrive:

The password displayed in the rclone configuration file is not stored in plain text when the configuration is created using rclone config. If you modify this file manually, generate the value for the pass field using the rclone obscure command.

4. Copy data from iCloud to kDrive

rclone lsd iCloudDrive:

It is recommended to perform a test without the actual transfer using --dry-run:

rclone copy iCloudDrive: kDrive:iCloudDrive --dry-run --progress

If the result is correct, start the copy:

rclone copy iCloudDrive: kDrive:iCloudDrive --progress --transfers 4 --checkers 8 --retries 5 --low-level-retries 10 --log-level INFO --log-file "$HOME/Desktop/rclone-kdrive-import.log"

This command copies the folders, subfolders, and files from the source iCloudDrive: to the iCloudDrive folder in your kDrive.

In case of a connection or computer interruption, rerun the same command. rclone will resume the comparison and avoid copying files that are already present when their size and available information match.

To verify the consistency of the copied volume, you can compare the source and destination by size:

rclone check iCloudDrive: kDrive:iCloudDrive --size-only --one-way --progress

Copying iCloud Photos

If you have configured a source dedicated to iCloud Photos, first list the available libraries and folders:

rclone lsd iCloudPhotos:

Then, adapt the source path according to the tree structure displayed by rclone. Example:

rclone copy iCloudPhotos: kDrive:iCloudPhotos --dry-run --progress

Then, start the copy if the test result is correct:

rclone copy iCloudPhotos: kDrive:iCloudPhotos --progress --transfers 4 --checkers 8 --retries 5 --low-level-retries 10 --log-level INFO --log-file "$HOME/Desktop/rclone-kdrive-photos.log"

5. Correct photo dates if necessary

After exporting or copying photos, the system dates of the files may no longer match the original date the photo was taken. If the chronological display is not correct, you can correct the dates on a local copy of the files before sending them permanently to kDrive.

To prepare a local folder for correction, copy the photos to a temporary folder on the desktop, for example:

rclone copy iCloudPhotos: "$HOME/Desktop/iCloud-Photos" --progress

Then, install ExifTool from https://exiftool.org/index.html, and then run the script below on macOS from the Terminal application.

The script searches for a date in the file's metadata, then in its name. The corrected files are listed in DateFound.txt and the files without a usable date are listed in DateError.txt, on the desktop.

The script to copy and paste entirely:

/bin/bash <<'BASH'
#!/bin/bash
set -u

ROOT="$(osascript -e 'POSIX path of (choose folder with prompt "Select the folder containing the files to update")')" || exit 0

DESKTOP="$HOME/Desktop"
LOG_FOUND="$DESKTOP/DateFound.txt"
LOG_ERROR="$DESKTOP/DateError.txt"
: > "$LOG_FOUND"
: > "$LOG_ERROR"

find_exiftool() {
    if command -v exiftool >/dev/null 2>&1; then
        command -v exiftool
        return 0
    fi
    if [ -x "/usr/local/bin/exiftool" ]; then
        printf '%s\n' "/usr/local/bin/exiftool"
        return 0
    fi
    if [ -x "/opt/homebrew/bin/exiftool" ]; then
        printf '%s\n' "/opt/homebrew/bin/exiftool"
        return 0
    fi
    return 1
}

EXIFTOOL="$(find_exiftool)" || {
    printf '%s\n' "ExifTool not found. Install it, then run the script again." >> "$LOG_ERROR"
    printf '%s\n' "ExifTool not found. Check DateError.txt on the desktop."
    exit 1
}

if [ ! -d "$ROOT" ]; then
    printf 'Invalid folder: %s\n' "$ROOT" >> "$LOG_ERROR"
    printf '%s\n' "Invalid folder. Check DateError.txt on the desktop."
    exit 1
fi

get_exif_date() {
    "$EXIFTOOL" -s3 -d "%Y:%m:%d %H:%M:%S" -DateTimeOriginal -CreateDate -MediaCreateDate -TrackCreateDate -CreationDate -ModifyDate -- "$1" 2>/dev/null | awk '/^[0-9]{4}:[0-9]{2}:[0-9]{2} [0-9]{2}:[0-9]{2}:[0-9]{2}/ { print substr($0, 1, 19); exit }'
}

get_name_date() {
    local name
    name="$(basename "$1")"
    if [[ "$name" =~ ([12][0-9]{3})[-_]?([01][0-9])[-_]?([0-3][0-9])([_\ -]?([0-2][0-9])[-_\.]?([0-5][0-9])[-_\.]?([0-5][0-9]))? ]]; then
        local year="${BASH_REMATCH[1]}"
        local month="${BASH_REMATCH[2]}"
        local day="${BASH_REMATCH[3]}"
        local hour="12"
        local minute="00"
        local second="00"
        if [ -n "${BASH_REMATCH[5]:-}" ]; then
            hour="${BASH_REMATCH[5]}"
            minute="${BASH_REMATCH[6]}"
            second="${BASH_REMATCH[7]}"
        fi
        printf '%s:%s:%s %s:%s:%s\n' "$year" "$month" "$day" "$hour" "$minute" "$second"
        return 0
    fi
    return 1
}

is_valid_date() {
    date -j -f "%Y:%m:%d %H:%M:%S" "$1" "+%Y:%m:%d %H:%M:%S" >/dev/null 2>&1
}

to_touch_date() {
    printf '%s' "$1" | sed -E 's/^([0-9]{4}):([0-9]{2}):([0-9]{2}) ([0-9]{2}):([0-9]{2}):([0-9]{2})$/\1\2\3\4\5.\6/'
}

write_metadata() {
    local file="$1"
    local date_value="$2"
    "$EXIFTOOL" -overwrite_original "-DateTimeOriginal=$date_value" "-CreateDate=$date_value" "-ModifyDate=$date_value" -- "$file" >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
}

process_file() {
    local file="$1"
    local date_value=""
    local source=""

    date_value="$(get_exif_date "$file")"
    if [ -n "$date_value" ]; then
        source="EXIF"
    else
        date_value="$(get_name_date "$file")"
        if [ -n "$date_value" ]; then
            source="file name"
        fi
    fi

    if [ -n "$date_value" ] && is_valid_date "$date_value"; then
        local touch_value
        touch_value="$(to_touch_date "$date_value")"

        if [ "$source" != "EXIF" ]; then
            write_metadata "$file" "$date_value"
        fi

        if touch -t "$touch_value" "$file" 2>/dev/null; then
            printf '%s | %s | %s\n' "$source" "$date_value" "$file" >> "$LOG_FOUND"
        else
            printf 'Unable to update file date: %s\n' "$file" >> "$LOG_ERROR"
        fi
    else
        printf 'No valid date found: %s\n' "$file" >> "$LOG_ERROR"
    fi
}

while IFS= read -r -d '' file; do
    case "$file" in
        *.json|*_original) continue ;;
    esac
    process_file "$file"
done < <(find "$ROOT" -type f -print0)

printf '%s\n' "Done. Check DateFound.txt and DateError.txt on the desktop."
BASH

After correction, send the corrected local folder to kDrive:

rclone copy "$HOME/Desktop/iCloud-Photos" kDrive:iCloudPhotos --progress --transfers 4 --checkers 8 --retries 5 --low-level-retries 10

6. Accessing data from kDrive

Once the copy is complete, your data is accessible from the kDrive web app, the kDrive mobile apps, and devices synchronized with the kDrive desktop app.

If you are also using the kDrive desktop app, wait until the local synchronization is complete before moving or renaming the imported folders.