Mount Google Drive, Dropbox, Mega, and more as a Network Drive on your M1 Mac. Step By Step Guide to Install Rclone Mount with macFuse on M1, M1 Pro, M1 Pro Max running Macbook Air's, and Pro's. 


google and mega drive as external drive on mac finder app

When you mount a drive, it acts as external storage and will not count against your Mac storage which is a huge advantage especially when you have 50GB+ Cloud Drive Space and a limited 256GB of Mac Storage. 


Rclone On M1 Mac

  • Install Brew through Terminal
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
  • Install Rclone via Brew in Terminal
brew install rclone
  • Download and Install macFUSE for M1 Mac
  • Give Developer Access to Mac OS File System and Reboot Mac.
  • Run Rclone Config in Terminal.
rclone config
  • Follow these Steps for Basic Google Drive Configuration in Rclone -
No remotes found - make a new one
n) New remote
r) Rename remote
c) Copy remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/r/c/s/q> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / Google Drive
   \ "drive"
[snip]
Storage> drive
Google Application Client Id - leave blank normally.
client_id>
Google Application Client Secret - leave blank normally.
client_secret>
Scope that rclone should use when requesting access from drive.
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Full access all files, excluding Application Data Folder.
   \ "drive"
 2 / Read-only access to file metadata and file contents.
   \ "drive.readonly"
   / Access to files created by rclone only.
 3 | These are visible in the drive website.
   | File authorization is revoked when the user deauthorizes the app.
   \ "drive.file"
   / Allows read and write access to the Application Data folder.
 4 | This is not visible in the drive website.
   \ "drive.appfolder"
   / Allows read-only access to file metadata but
 5 | does not allow any access to read or download file content.
   \ "drive.metadata.readonly"
scope> 1
ID of the root folder - leave blank normally.  Fill in to access "Computers" folders. (see docs).
root_folder_id> 
Service Account Credentials JSON file path - needed only if you want use SA instead of interactive login.
service_account_file>
Remote config
Use auto config?
 * Say Y if not sure
 * Say N if you are working on a remote or headless machine or Y didn't work
y) Yes
n) No
y/n> y
If your browser doesn't open automatically go to the following link: http://127.0.0.1:53682/auth
Log in and authorize rclone for access
Waiting for code...
Got code
Configure this as a Shared Drive (Team Drive)?
y) Yes
n) No
y/n> n
--------------------
[remote]
client_id = 
client_secret = 
scope = drive
root_folder_id = 
service_account_file =
token = {"access_token":"XXX","token_type":"Bearer","refresh_token":"XXX","expiry":"2014-03-16T13:57:58.955387075Z"}
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y
  • Mount Google/Mega/Dropbox Drive via Rclone in Terminal.
sudo rclone mount --daemon --allow-other --vfs-read-chunk-size=32M --poll-interval 15s --vfs-cache-mode writes --disable About GoogleDrive: /Users/akshaybhopani/GoogleDrive
  • Launch Scripts Editor app and Create a new Mount Script.

tell application "Terminal"

activate

do script "rclone mount --daemon --allow-other --vfs-read-chunk-size=32M --poll-interval 15s --vfs-cache-mode writes --disable About GoogleDrive: /Users/akshaybhopani/GoogleDrive"

do script "exit"

end tell

*Replace "GoogleDrive" with your given remote name in Rclone Config, Replace "/Users/akshaybhopani/GoogleDrive" as per your desired created empty folder path you wish to mount.
  • Export this Script as an Application i.e .app file using Export Option from "File".
rclone mount autostart script
  • Go to System Preferences > Users & Groups > Login Items and add your newly created .app file and allow it to run after login.
autostart rclone mount script on m1 mac
  • Reboot and Enjoy, it should be automatically mounted. 

Now any app on your Mac can access Google Drive and Mega Drive as an External Network Drive via the Finder app. You can Copy, Paste, Download and Stream any files using your Finder app. 

7 Comments

  1. Firstly, great tutorial, and i also watched your video on youtube. It seems that everything is working but my folder does not change to fuse and there are no contents. if i run the command with no folder created it barks about it, i create the folder and the command completes successfully but nothing is mounted.

    have you come across this issue at all?

    ReplyDelete
  2. The same problem for me nothing is showing in folder

    ReplyDelete
  3. macos 12.6 run sudo not work. password

    ReplyDelete
  4. It doesn't work if you install rclone from brew, you need to install rclone binary.
    https://rclone.org/install/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Indeed this worked, thank you. I uninstalled via Brew and then installed the precompiled binary and this worked. There are some nuances that I came across but simple to work through for MacOS Ventura. But I am now working successfully thank to you.

      Delete
  5. Any chance this can be updated? I cant seem to make this work. thanks!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Previous Post Next Post