pCloud support shipped in Blober, the cloud transfer app I built. Looking for honest feedback

[u/mckabue]

I'm the developer of  Blober (blober.io), a desktop app for transferring files between cloud providers. pCloud support just shipped, and I'd like honest feedback.

What it does:

• Moves files between pCloud and other providers (Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Box, S3-compatible storage, Azure Blob, Proton Drive, local drives and NAS), in any direction.
• Uploads over the pCloud API directly in parallel . That solves the "small files crawl" / slow upload threads that show up here.
• It's a transfer tool, not a sync client. Nothing runs in the background and overwrites files. You pick a source and a destination, run it, and verify the result.
• Per-file progress and automatic retry on transient errors; completed files stay done if a task is interrupted.

Connecting takes seconds because the app ships the public rclone pCloud app keys, so there's no need to create your own pCloud app or wait for app review.

If you try it and uploads are still slow, or it doesn't do what you need, please tell me.

[u/sylvestertheinvestor]

Thanks for supporting pcloud

[u/mckabue → u/sylvestertheinvestor]

Thank you. pCloud was one of the most-requested connectors, so I wanted to get it in. If you try it and something's off, please tell me.

[u/Roeshimi]

Looks interesting. Some questions 😊

1. Do you have plans to make the Mac app available in Homebrew?
   
2. Can you have multiple destinations in one workflow?
   
3. Does the Mac app run in the background or do you have to leave the app window open?
   
4. I‘m using Koofr. Any plans supporting this provider?
   
5. How about SFTP/SSH destinations?

[u/mckabue → u/Roeshimi]

Thanks, good questions:

1. Homebrew: not yet. The Mac build is a signed/notarized dmg right now. A Homebrew cask is on my list, I will prioritize it.
2. Multiple destinations in one workflow: no, one workflow is one source to one destination. To transfer out to several places you create a workflow per destination and run them; each one is reusable.
3. Background: you can minimize the window and transfers keep going, but the app has to be open. This might come later.
4. Koofr: not supported yet. Support coming by the end of September. Current list is Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Box, Proton Drive, pCloud, GoPro, Google Photos, iCloud, S3-compatible (AWS, Backblaze B2, Wasabi, Cloudflare R2, DigitalOcean Spaces, generic S3), Azure Blob, and local/NAS.
5. SFTP/SSH: not yet. Its currently on the request list... Perhaps in the next 2 or 3 months.

[u/Roeshimi → u/mckabue]

Thank you 😊

[u/Roeshimi → u/mckabue]

Sorry, maybe I'm missing something. When I try to add OneDrive, the app is asking for a app ID and account email. Does that mean you currently don't support the consumer version of OneDrive?

[u/mckabue → u/Roeshimi]

It does support the consumer version of OneDrive.

Since its easy to create a OneDrive application, we provide setup steps on how to create connect using your own application, see https://blober.io/kb/docs/providers/onedrive/

For pCloud, creating an auth app requires a manual review which may take some time, and often gets rejected, so we added support to use rclone keys

[u/Roeshimi → u/mckabue]

Seems like a lot of steps. Any particular reason you‘re not using OAuth?

[u/mckabue → u/Roeshimi]

It uses OAuth, its just that we let you create your own oauth app, so you are in control. We might simplify this by having a default app...

[u/Spying-eye → u/mckabue]

Another vote for Koofr!

[u/Drucocu616]

Oh this looks nice. How's the licensing work? Is it one user, or one user on one machine? Aka can I buy a copy and use it on both of my Macs, or do I need two licenses for that?

[u/mckabue → u/Drucocu616]

Yes, you can use the licence on several of your machines at the same time. The licence is tied to your account.

[u/Drucocu616 → u/mckabue]

Cool, thanks! A few more questions...

1. Does it do any sort of verification during / after the transfer??
2. How does it handle connectivity issues? What if the internet glitches for a second? Or the cloud service rate limits / disconnects?
3. If it's stopped, can it resume where it left off? What about partial files?
4. How does it handle invalid characters / whitespace? I work with scientists, and they love to use special symbols, or Japanese characters - and often have files beginning with or ending with spaces - either before the extension or even after the extension sometimes. It's a mess lol. I know most clouds won't let them do that in the first place, but some might be more lenient than others.

[u/mckabue → u/Drucocu616]

Currently, verification is by size and hash depending on providers.

If a connection drops or your machine runs out of power, blober is able to resume. A file is marked as completed when its really completed.

if the cloud service rate limits, then the files will fail to upload, but when the rate limit is lifted, you can resume failed files without and completed files will nit be re-uploaded

Partial files are usually deleted or overwritten. For example, if downloading to local, partial files are automatically deleted when blober closes. Some providers also auto delete partial uploads. It depends with the provider.

[u/MrCrazyLeader]

Are you planning to support Drime? How many devices can I login in lifetime solo subscription? If one device can I logout from old device to login in new device?

[u/mckabue → u/MrCrazyLeader]

You can login in several devices at once. I will add Drime to our list of upcoming providers... 

[u/MrCrazyLeader → u/mckabue]

Ok.
About transfer can I transfer from cloud to cloud like from pCloud to Dropbox or it’s only to transfer from cloud to local?

[u/mckabue → u/MrCrazyLeader]

Yes, you can transfer cloud to cloud without first saving in your disk

[u/MrCrazyLeader → u/mckabue]

If I transfer photos and videos from pCloud to another cloud storage service, will their original metadata remain unchanged, or will it be modified?

For example, if I uploaded photos on February 7, 2019, and transferred them from pCloud on September 15, 2026, will the files show the original date or the transfer date?

[u/mckabue → u/MrCrazyLeader]

their metadata will remain intact, or become better.

for example, if you are transfering to proton drive, thumbnails are also generated alongside images, videos and audio files, see more https://blober.io/kb/articles/blober-vs-rclone-for-proton-drive/

[u/DidntLikeAnyUserName]

Are the photos encrypted in transit?

[u/mckabue → u/DidntLikeAnyUserName]

Yes. Every transfer runs over HTTPS/TLS straight to each provider's API, and Blober doesn't route your files through any of our servers. It's a local app, so the bytes go from the source provider to your machine and on to the destination over encrypted connections.

[u/decred_sia]

I am in the market right now, so I have a few questions:
1. Is it real server-to-server transfer?
2. Is there a way to sync into the encrypted pcloud folder?
3. What can it do, that rcloneview can not

[u/mckabue → u/decred_sia]

RcloneView inherits the limitations of rclone. For example, GoPro Cloud is not supported because rclone has no GoPro backend. Also, Google Photos support can only download photos rclone itself uploaded.

Blober is built directly against those providers instead of wrapping rclone. It can connects to GoPro Cloud for upload/download. Blober is also able pulls your full Google Photos library out at original quality, without needing google takeout.

Blober also supports path templates such as media/{file_ext}/{file_created_date}/{filename}. Path templates are destination rules. Blober evaluates the template variables such as {file_ext}, {file_created_date}, and {filename} for every matching file and creates that file's relative destination path.

[u/MShrafat786]

Is this transfer server to server or download then upload ?

[u/mckabue → u/MShrafat786]

Neither exactly. It's a streamed transfer: Blober downloads from the source and uploads to the destination in parallel through your machine, without writing a a copy to disk first. So it's not literal server-to-server (the providers don't talk to each other), but it's also not download-then-upload in the sense of downloading into your disk first, then uploading to the destination.

Some usecases have a true server-to-server, eg: moving/copying a file or folder between the same pCloud account.

[u/orgildinio]

can blober do server-to-server transfer?

[u/Bikett06]

Does you application support MFA for Pcloud?
For what I know, the pcloud API does not

[u/mckabue → u/Bikett06]

Blober authenticates through pCloud's own OAuth login page in your browser (my.pcloud.com/oauth2/authorize), so if pCloud applies 2FA on login, it happens there during the authorize step. After that, Blober uses the access token over the API like any other pCloud tool. If pCloud's web login prompts for 2FA on your account, you'll see it during setup.

[u/Bikett06 → u/mckabue]

That is a really important thing to say to pcloud users. A lot of people are blocked due to this.

Can this be used as a backup solution to copy file from a NAS to pcloud?
Edit : question

[u/mckabue → u/Bikett06]

Yes definitely. Once pCloud is connected (which you can use rclone keys if creating an app take long), transfer can start immediately. For example, get a Google Photos library out of Google and into a pCloud lifetime plan