# Transfer DigitalOcean Spaces Buckets Between Regions Using Rclone

Spaces Object Storage is an S3-compatible service for storing and serving large amounts of data. The built-in Spaces CDN minimizes page load times, improves performance, and reduces bandwidth and infrastructure costs.

DigitalOcean Spaces buckets are created in a single region and cannot be moved directly to another region. To transfer data between regions, you must copy the contents of a source bucket into a new bucket created in the destination region using a third-party tool.

We recommend using [Rclone](https://rclone.org/), an open-source file management utility that supports Amazon S3–compatible object storage, including Spaces. Rclone can copy or synchronize objects between buckets in different regions, verify transfer integrity, and handle large datasets efficiently.

Rclone can also be used for additional object storage tasks such as uploading or downloading files, synchronizing directories, mounting buckets locally, and managing multiple storage providers. For more information, see the [Rclone documentation](https://rclone.org/docs/) or run `rclone help` to explore available commands.

## Get a Spaces Access Key and Secret Key

Before transferring data between regions, you need a [Spaces access key and secret key](https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/spaces/how-to/manage-access/index.html.md#access-keys). Save the access key ID and secret key securely. These credentials are required to authenticate Rclone.

## Identify Your Spaces Endpoints

Each Spaces bucket uses a region-specific S3-compatible endpoint in the format:

```text
<region>.digitaloceanspaces.com
```

To see your bucket’s origin endpoint, go to the [control panel](https://cloud.digitalocean.com/), in the left menu, click **Spaces Object Storage**, under the **Buckets** tab, click the bucket you want the origin endpoint of, and then in the bucket’s overview page, on the top right is where the bucket’s origin endpoint is located.

**Note**:

  Rclone may transfer objects using either server-side copies (`CopyObject`) or a download-and-upload workflow (`GetObject` followed by `PutObject`).

  When buckets are in different regions, use different remotes, or use different storage tiers (Standard Storage versus Cold Storage), Rclone downloads each object from the source bucket and uploads it to the destination bucket.

## Install Rclone

Rclone can be installed on your local machine or on a Droplet. If you are transferring a large amount of data or have limited local bandwidth, installing Rclone on a Droplet in either the source or destination region may improve performance.

Download the appropriate binary for your operating system from the [Rclone downloads page](https://rclone.org/downloads/) and follow the installation instructions for your platform.

## Configure Rclone for Spaces

Rclone accesses storage providers through named remotes. Each Spaces region must be configured as a separate remote.

In the Rclone configuration file (`~/.config/rclone/rclone.conf`), define a remote for each region:

```text
[spaces-sfo2]
type = s3
provider = DigitalOcean
env_auth = false
access_key_id = your_spaces_access_key
secret_access_key = your_spaces_secret_key
endpoint = sfo2.digitaloceanspaces.com
acl = private
```

Create a second remote for the destination region by duplicating the configuration and updating the remote name and endpoint:

```text
[spaces-nyc3]
type = s3
provider = DigitalOcean
env_auth = false
access_key_id = your_spaces_access_key
secret_access_key = your_spaces_secret_key
endpoint = nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com
acl = private
```

On macOS and Linux, restrict access to the configuration file because it contains credentials:

```shell
chmod 600 ~/.config/rclone/rclone.conf
```

## Transfer Data Between Regions

After configuring both regions, you can use Rclone to list buckets, inspect contents, and transfer data.

First, verify that both remotes are available for the transfer:

```shell
rclone listremotes
```

Then, list buckets in a region:

```shell
rclone lsd spaces-sfo2:
```

To copy or synchronize objects between buckets, use `rclone sync` or `rclone copy`:

```shell
rclone sync spaces-sfo2:source-bucket spaces-nyc3:destination-bucket
```

If the destination bucket does not already exist, Rclone attempts to create it. This succeeds only if the bucket name is available and meets Spaces naming requirements.

When transferring data to or from Cold Storage buckets, Rclone can’t use server-side copy operations. In this case, add the `--disable copy` flag to force download-and-upload behavior:

```shell
rclone sync --disable copy spaces-sfo2:source-bucket spaces-nyc3:destination-bucket
```

## Verify Transferred Data

After the transfer completes, you can verify object integrity using the `check` command:

```shell
rclone check spaces-sfo2:source-bucket spaces-nyc3:destination-bucket
```

A successful transfer shows that Rclone found no differences between the source and destination buckets and verified that all files match like this:

```text
2026/02/04 11:32:18 NOTICE: S3 bucket destination-bucket: 0 differences found
2026/02/04 11:32:18 NOTICE: S3 bucket destination-bucket: 128 matching files
```

This compares object hashes between buckets. If hashes cannot be compared, you can rerun the command using the `--size-only` or `--download` flags.

- When using the `--size-only` flag, Rclone considers a file successfully transferred if the file size matches between the source and destination buckets.
- When using the `--download` flag, Rclone downloads objects from both buckets and compares them locally. If no differences are reported, the transfer is considered successful. This method is more thorough but slower and uses additional bandwidth.