feather drive

how to mount google drive on a mac with rclone

by sumit paul · last updated october 31, 2026

to mount google drive on a mac with rclone, install the official rclone binary, run rclone config to add a google drive remote, then mount it with rclone nfsmount gdrive: ~/gdrive --vfs-cache-mode full. that uses the nfs client built into macos and needs nothing else installed. rclone mount works too, but on macos it needs a fuse layer: macfuse, whose kernel extension means lowering your mac's security policy on apple silicon, or the kext-less fuse-t.

before you start

get rclone from rclone.org, not homebrew. rclone's install page says the homebrew build doesn't support mount. the official script picks the right build for your mac:
```
sudo -v ; curl https://rclone.org/install.sh | sudo bash
```
if you download the zip in a browser instead and macos says the developer can't be verified, rclone's docs suggest xattr -d com.apple.quarantine rclone.
make your own google client id. rclone's google drive docs say the shared client id is being retired and will stop working during 2026, so you need your own from the google cloud console. the drive page on rclone.org walks through it. it also gives you your own api quota instead of a shared one.
only for rclone mount: install macfuse or fuse-t first. rclone nfsmount doesn't need either.

step 1: connect google drive

run rclone config and press n for a new remote.
name it gdrive and choose drive as the storage type.
paste your client id and secret.
pick a scope. full access (drive) is the default and lets rclone see your whole drive. drive.file limits it to files rclone created.
leave the service account file blank, skip the advanced config, and answer y to use a web browser. sign in to google and allow access.
say no to a shared drive unless you use one, confirm with y, then q to quit.

check it worked with rclone lsd gdrive:, which lists your top-level folders.

step 2: choose how to mount it

method	needs	security change	worth knowing
`rclone nfsmount`	nothing extra	none	rclone starts a local nfs server and mounts it for you. read-only unless you set a cache mode.
`rclone mount` + macfuse	macfuse	on apple silicon, reduced security in recovery mode and permission for kernel extensions	macfuse's docs say the kernel backend has the best performance and full feature support.
`rclone mount` + fuse-t	fuse-t	none	kext-less, runs in user space. free for personal use. rclone notes finder can update modification times on fuse-t, which can make rclone upload a file again.

for most people on a current mac, start with rclone nfsmount. macfuse's own docs also describe a newer fskit backend (macos 15.4 or later) that runs in user space and skips the recovery-mode step; check rclone's mount page for how well your rclone version works with it before relying on it.

step 3: mount it

the mount point has to be an existing, empty folder:

mkdir -p ~/gdrive
rclone nfsmount gdrive: ~/gdrive --vfs-cache-mode full --vfs-cache-max-size 20G

or, with macfuse or fuse-t installed:

rclone mount gdrive: ~/gdrive --vfs-cache-mode full --vfs-cache-max-size 20G --volname "Google Drive"

what the flags do:

--vfs-cache-mode full buffers every read and write through a cache on disk. the cached files are sparse, and rclone tracks which parts it has downloaded, so a video player that reads a few seconds only fetches those seconds. without a cache mode, many apps can't write to the mount at all.
--vfs-cache-max-size 20G caps the cache. rclone removes the least recently used files first. it checks the size on a timer and can't evict open files, so the cache can run over the limit for a while.
--volname sets the name finder shows (rclone mount only).
--daemon runs the mount in the background. rclone's docs note the wait for the mount is fixed on macos, so set --daemon-wait if it gives up too early.

leave the command running in a terminal window, or add --daemon. to unmount, press ctrl+c in that window, or run umount ~/gdrive.

things that trip people up

rate limits. google sets a query limit per client id, and rclone slows down when it hits it. rclone's docs say copying lots of small files runs at about 2 files a second for this reason. big files aren't affected much.
cache on an external exfat disk. exfat and fat don't support sparse files, and rclone's docs say it performs poorly on them. keep the cache on your apfs disk, or point --cache-dir at an apfs volume.
it stops when you log out or restart. rclone doesn't remount on its own; to mount at login you need a launchd agent or a login script that runs the command.
offline use. only what's already in the cache opens without a connection.

rclone or a finder app?

rclone is free, open source and supports dozens of providers, not just google drive and dropbox. with full scope it sees your whole drive, it scripts well, and the same tool also copies and syncs between clouds. if you're happy in terminal, it's hard to beat.

the cost is the setup: your own google client id, a choice of fuse layer, a command to keep running and a cache to size. if you only need google drive or dropbox and would rather not touch terminal, feather drive mounts them in finder from a menu bar app and, like rclone's full cache mode, fetches only the byte ranges an app reads. its limits are real: it needs macos 26 or later, covers only google drive and dropbox, sees only the files you put in it (google's drive.file permission and a dropbox app folder), needs a connection to open files, and is a paid app with a 3-day free trial. if you need your whole drive or another provider, rclone is the better fit.

common questions

do i need macfuse to use rclone on a mac?

no. rclone nfsmount uses the nfs client built into macos, so nothing else needs installing. rclone mount is the command that needs a fuse layer, either macfuse or fuse-t.

why is my rclone mount read-only on macos?

rclone's docs say an nfsmount on macos is read-only unless you set --vfs-cache-mode. add --vfs-cache-mode writes or --vfs-cache-mode full and mount again.

does rclone download the whole file when i open it?

not with --vfs-cache-mode full. rclone stores cached files as sparse files and tracks which parts it has fetched, so an app that reads only part of a video only pulls that part.

does rclone mount work on apple silicon macs?

yes. with macfuse's kernel extension you have to lower the security policy in recovery mode once. rclone nfsmount and fuse-t avoid that step.

can rclone mount dropbox on a mac too?

yes. run rclone config again, choose dropbox as the storage type, and mount that remote with the same nfsmount or mount command.