[HN Gopher] Mount Proton Drive on Linux using rclone and systemd
___________________________________________________________________
Mount Proton Drive on Linux using rclone and systemd
Author : cf100clunk
Score : 88 points
Date : 2025-11-23 16:12 UTC (6 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (github.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
| Havoc wrote:
| Neat. I did just buy one of their packages so this will be useful
| augusto-moura wrote:
| Support for proton drive on rclone is still on beta [1], Proton,
| AFAIK, doesn't provide documented official APIs for accessing
| their Drive. Much of the work on the rclone plugin was made via
| reverse engineering and reading Proton's open source projects
| code
|
| [1]: https://rclone.org/protondrive/
| prism56 wrote:
| My rclone for proton stopped working this week and I just
| cannot get it working. It's looking likely the support will be
| dropped as the dev is no longer working on it and it's not
| finished.
|
| Hopefully proton will hurry up with their SDK. Through the
| rclone GUI I can access and mount the folders and files but I
| cannot get any auto rclone commands to actually transfer any
| files.
| zacwest wrote:
| They are working on an SDK, which they will use for their own
| Linux client: https://proton.me/blog/proton-drive-sdk-preview
| augusto-moura wrote:
| Good to know! Last time I checked on this was last year, so
| they took a long time to announce anything
| bjt12345 wrote:
| Surely there's better technological solutions for encrypting
| block data in the cloud with lower risks of service
| ensh*tification?
| jszymborski wrote:
| The state of things isn't great IMHO. Im not sure I trust any
| of EncFS, CryFS, and gocryptfs.
|
| Many leak metadata and/or have serious security concerns.
| karlgkk wrote:
| Metadata leakage is a fundamental issue when you go from
| block to object. I can think of some schemes that would help
| but they're all kinda nasty lol
| jszymborski wrote:
| Of course, and I didnt intend to downplay the efforts of
| those projects. Just pointing out that they don't meet the
| requirements of most threat models.
| ysnp wrote:
| Can you detail the current metadata and security problems
| with CryFS? Do they also extend/apply to securefs?
| somat wrote:
| luks on an iscsi drive
|
| Joking of course, but I am playing around with a similar setup,
| I should try it over the actual internet and see how much it
| sucks.
|
| Now I am arguing with myself if you would want to run it over
| an encrypted tunnel. Theoretically no, but drive encryption is
| not really designed to protect data in transit who knows what
| sidechannel data would leak, so maybe... and the tunnel
| probably has better authentication than iscsi
| brendoncarroll wrote:
| I work on a project Blobcache, a content addressed store for
| exposing and consuming storage over the network. It supports
| full end to end encryption, and offers a minimal API to prevent
| applications from leaking data.
|
| https://github.com/blobcache/blobcache/blob/master/doc/0.2_W...
|
| You can persist arbitrary hash-linked data structures in
| Blobcache volumes. One such data structure is the Git-Like
| Filesystem, which supports the usual files and trees.
|
| https://github.com/blobcache/blobcache/blob/master/doc/8.5_G...
| drnick1 wrote:
| My suggestion, if you can, would be to host the data on your
| own hardware. The Internet was initially conceived with this
| kind of decentralization in mind -- most people/organizations
| hosting their own websites/email/files/etc. And this is what we
| must go back to if we want to retake control from "cloud"
| providers.
|
| Technically, this could be as simple as a Samba server behind
| Wireguard, but you could also, or in addition, look into other
| projects like Nextcloud especially if you are interested in
| sharing files with people.
| tachim wrote:
| Proton's product changes over the last couple years are the
| exact opposite of that. I think they're the only credible game
| in town for an email/drive service in the cloud that doesn't
| have AI data mining risks.
| ianopolous wrote:
| You might be interested in Peergos [0][1] which is E2EE, fully
| open source (including the server), and self hostable. We've
| been audited by Cure53 and Radically Open Security.
|
| [0] https://peergos.org
|
| [1] https://github.com/peergos/peergos
| jerrythegerbil wrote:
| As a (previous) customer of Proton from many years and a user of
| their drive product, you should be aware that earlier this year
| the drive API endpoints began to block their own VPN egress quite
| often for rate limiting. They also block many cloud provider's
| egress. They also don't officially support rclone, and their
| changing API spec often breaks the compatibility.
|
| I saw the writing on the wall and migrated rapidly earlier this
| year ahead of crypto product launches ahead of the email fiasco.
| It was hard to get data back out, even then.
|
| Proton still stands for privacy. But the dark patterns for lock-
| in I can do without.
|
| Hetzner Storage boxes with rclone and the "crypt" option are a
| drop-in replacement, at ~$40 for 20TB. That's where I went
| instead.
| SilverElfin wrote:
| How can someone not familiar with the technical details use the
| alternative you suggest? Is there software (even if paid) that
| can sync to it?
| jerrythegerbil wrote:
| A non technical person would probably Google "Hetzner Storage
| Box", click the first link, and read the page that answers
| all of those questions.
|
| There is many free software suites that Hetzner Storage box
| supports, up to and including official support for rclone
| (the free tool used in the post we're replying to).
|
| https://docs.hetzner.com/storage/storage-box
| varispeed wrote:
| How would you handle end to end encryption?
| teraflop wrote:
| Probably using rclone (the free tool used in the post
| we're replying to).
| hypeatei wrote:
| I wish Hetzner made storage boxes available in their US
| regions.
| Nextgrid wrote:
| I wonder if it would ever be possible to reach that value-
| per-dollar in the current economy.
|
| Hetzner works because it was built a long time ago when
| talent was cheap, which it was because the property Ponzi
| wasn't at the stage where an average post-tax middle-class
| salary barely covers rent. Since then they've managed to stay
| afloat because it's only maintenance and small incremental
| changes from that point on.
|
| Building such a new operation (and offering competitive
| prices) from scratch today would be impossible based on labor
| costs alone. This is presumably the same reason they don't
| offer their very-good-value dedicated servers in the US
| either, only "cloud" VPSes which are orders of magnitude more
| expensive.
| tachim wrote:
| As a current (avid) user of Proton VPN and Drive, I have never
| seen issues with interactions between proton drive and their
| vpn.
| butz wrote:
| Is it possible to "just sync some files" to Proton Drive in user
| space without root access? As a paying Proton Mail customer I am
| annoyed about situation with Proton Drive and non-existing
| official support for Linux. On the other hand, they will probably
| drop some kind of electron wrapper of few hundred megabytes, and
| that won't be useful either. What about alternatives? Should I
| just use Filen instead?
| ianopolous wrote:
| You might be interested in Peergos [0][1] (creator here) which
| has official Linux apps, is E2EE, fully open source (including
| the server), and self-hostable. It's also recommended by
| privacy guides: https://www.privacyguides.org/en/cloud/#peergos
|
| [0] https://peergos.org
|
| [1] https://github.com/peergos/peergos
| aborsy wrote:
| Why do you need cloud, if you don't need public sharing?
|
| You can connect to a 2-bay NAS with 20 TB of storage at home with
| a VPN. Fast, private, secure, practically unlimited storage,
| under your control. That much storage will be very expensive in
| the cloud. Proton is like 120$/year for 500GB.
|
| You can also run unlimited applications for free on the same nas:
| photo management, streaming with apps like plex etc. Each of
| those apps is an additional cost in the cloud.
| vohk wrote:
| I keep a home server for exactly that reason but I still use
| cloud for some things to have an off site copy as well. There
| are some things I don't want to risk losing over burst pipes, a
| fire, burglary, power surges, etc.
| kykat wrote:
| Because of 3-2-1 Backup Rule, it's great to have a cloud backup
| for things that you don't want to lose.
|
| It's also great if you move frequently, or travel a lot.
| aborsy wrote:
| Sure, but you don't need to pay a premium for end to end
| encryption like with proton.
|
| You would encrypt (all or part of) your NAS client side with
| your software of choice (I use restic) and ship it anywhere
| off site: could be cheapest cloud, or another location you
| have access to.
| kykat wrote:
| True, I use proton for their mail and VPN, but use hetzner
| for bulk backups
| ImJamal wrote:
| Because your house might be destroyed with the drives?
| ranger_danger wrote:
| The project appears to be AI-generated to my eyes
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2025-11-23 23:00 UTC)