Automated Google Drive Data Management

📅 2025-03-03 — Session: Automated Google Drive Data Management

🕒 22:40–23:50
🏷️ Labels: Google Drive, Automation, Python, Data Management, Rclone
📂 Project: Dev
⭐ Priority: MEDIUM

Session Goal

The primary goal of this session was to enhance and automate the management of Google Drive data using various tools and scripts.

Key Activities

• Developed a Python function to manage root-level files in Google Drive and correctly identify their parent folders.
• Implemented a solution to accurately retrieve parent folder names for files, especially in shared drives.
• Exported a full directory tree from Google Drive using gdrive4 and mapped file IDs to folder paths.
• Created a structured workflow for exporting and reconstructing a Google Drive index using command line and Python scripts.
• Configured gdrive CLI to authenticate with a Google Cloud service account for secure access.
• Set up rclone to work with Google Drive, generating a structured CSV from folder and file data.
• Troubleshot issues related to DNS resolution errors and empty CSV file generation.

Achievements

• Successfully automated the retrieval and export of Google Drive data into structured formats.
• Improved the accuracy of file and folder path mapping in Google Drive.

Pending Tasks

• Further testing of the automated workflows to ensure robustness and scalability.
• Integration of these scripts into a larger data management system for continuous operation.