How to access gdrive backups created under another userid?

How do I access Duplicati files previously created under a different userid?

I’ve had to change my Google userid, and moved all my Duplicati backup folder/files to my new GDrive with the same path layout. However, Duplicati cannot see the “old” folders/files on the new GDrive.

If I try to use the new “destination” path in my backup setup, it says it doesn’t exist. However, Duplicati will create a new folder of exactly the same name and path on the new GDrive (creates an empty duplicate), and I can backup to the new folder. The original/migrated folders/files are not visible to Duplicati, even if I copy them into the newly created folder.

Update:

I have used the Google Drive app on my Apple MacBook to create a new backup set using the “local folder or drive” configuration in Duplicati. The Google Drive app creates a local folder link to the GDrive folders/files (“cloud files”) which physically reside on the GDrive, not my local computer.

This configuration choice allows Duplicati to see all previously created folders/files, not only those newly created with the Google Drive app link, but also those migrated from the previous GDrive.

However, trying to use these “local” cloud folders/files for incremental backups or rebuilding the database fails because the Google Drive app returns duplicate file names when queried for a list of the remote files (“fails UNIQUE constraint”). This duplicate file listing issue is not limited to Duplicati, but appears to be a Google Drive app bug.

None of the cloud folders/files are visible when I try to access them as the “destination” using the “Google Drive” configuration in Duplicati.

Hello

do you mean that on a Google drive it’s possible to create 2 folders with indentical names at the say, root level (or any sublevel) ? Astonishing to say the least.

Yes, I was surprised (and annoyed) too.

For whatever reason, Google Drive considers the file name to just be one of the properties of the file.

Files (v2 has a worse explanation of this strangeness, so I show v3)

The name of the file. This is not necessarily unique within a folder.

Their web interface will happily let you make such duplicates as well.

Google Drive also prefers (and threatens to demand) that applications have access only to their data.

Enhancing security controls for Google Drive third-party apps (but so far they haven’t enforced policy)

https://duplicati-oauth-handler.appspot.com/

image

will give Duplicati access to all your files, if that’s what you like, but Google might cut you off someday.

A painful option is to have Duplicati move the files into the new account using a script as suggested in
Uploaded copy to google cloud breaks permissions

You could maybe keep using the Google Drive app after clearing the duplicates, however performance
could be different. Your description sounds like you’re streaming not mirroring (which adds other risks).

Well, TIL as they say. There is this advanced option for Google drive: googledrive-teamdrive-id, maybe it could be of help in your case ?

ts768:

Thank you. The full access login got me running again (past the UNIQUE error). I have about 12TB of duplicati files that I’ve migrated, so file-by-file access will be a real bother.

The Google Drive app “duplicates” issue is twofold: (1) yes, Google Drive will happily create duplicate files and folders; (2) the Google Drive app, when queried for a file list, returns phantom duplicates in the listing, that is, these are not duplicates on Google Drive, but the app provides the same file names multiple times in the file list. I have complained to Google, but with no useful response yet. To test this, try using any “find duplicate files” app using the Google Drive app folder link (“Google Drive”). You’ll get duplicates where none actually exist!

Thanks again for your help… Steve

is this a Team Drive (now called Shared Drive)? Is there a capable admin who might know some way to tell Google Drive to change files so it looks like Duplicati created them? This looks to me like what’s missing… Possibly lack of such capability (at least in Google Drive Personal) is why they can’t do their security boost.

How did you migrate originally? Through some sort of change in the cloud, or with a long download/upload?

Not seeing this on a sample folder (a Duplicati backup) on Windows 10, testing on two systems, one set to “Mirror files” and the other set to “Stream files” (and I’m assuming you stream, due to the rather large size).

Maybe it’s a MacOS specific bug? Regardless, Duplicati won’t like phantom duplicates in the backup folder.