How to migrate from Hetzner object storage to Quake AI

Both Hetzner Object Storage and Quake AI use S3-compatible APIs, making this one of the simplest migration paths. rclone copies data directly between endpoints with no local staging required.

Service mapping#

Prerequisites#

• A Quake AI account with S3 credentials
• Hetzner S3 credentials (generated in the Hetzner Cloud Console under Security > S3 Credentials)
• rclone installed (v1.65+)

Before you start#

Read the migration planning guide for the S3/Swift compatibility matrix.

Hetzner-specific considerations:

• No egress fees: Hetzner includes outbound transfer in the plan. You will not be charged for data leaving Hetzner during migration.
• Ceph backend: Hetzner Object Storage uses Ceph RADOS Gateway, similar to Quake AI's Swift S3 gateway. Behavior differences between the two are minimal for standard S3 operations.
• Virtual-hosted bucket addressing: Hetzner uses bucket.location.your-objectstorage.com URLs. This is handled automatically by rclone.
• 100-bucket limit: Hetzner limits accounts to 100 buckets. Quake AI does not impose a hard bucket limit.
• Custom metadata: Neither rclone nor s3cmd preserves custom metadata during cross-provider copies. If your objects have custom x-amz-meta-* headers, use MinIO Client instead.

Configure rclone remotes#

Add both remotes to ~/.config/rclone/rclone.conf:

[hetzner]
type = s3
provider = Other
access_key_id = YOUR_HETZNER_ACCESS_KEY
secret_access_key = YOUR_HETZNER_SECRET_KEY
endpoint = fsn1.your-objectstorage.com
acl = private

[quakeai]
type = s3
provider = Ceph
access_key_id = YOUR_RUMBLE_ACCESS_KEY
secret_access_key = YOUR_RUMBLE_SECRET_KEY
endpoint = object.us-east-2.rumble.cloud
acl = private

Replace the Hetzner endpoint with your region (fsn1, nbg1, or hel1). Replace the Quake AI endpoint with your region.

Verify both remotes:

rclone lsd hetzner:
rclone lsd quakeai:

Create the destination bucket#

rclone mkdir quakeai:my-bucket

Run the migration#

Initial copy#

rclone copy hetzner:my-source-bucket quakeai:my-bucket \
  --transfers 16 \
  --checkers 32 \
  --s3-chunk-size 64M \
  --progress \
  --log-file migration.log \
  --log-level INFO

Since both endpoints are S3-compatible, rclone performs a direct server-to-server copy. No data passes through your local machine unless object sizes require multipart reassembly.

Delta syncs#

rclone sync hetzner:my-source-bucket quakeai:my-bucket \
  --transfers 16 \
  --checkers 32 \
  --progress

Verify the migration#

rclone size hetzner:my-source-bucket
rclone size quakeai:my-bucket

Check file integrity:

rclone check hetzner:my-source-bucket quakeai:my-bucket \
  --one-way \
  --log-file check.log

See the validation checklist for the full procedure.

Cut over#

1. Run a final rclone sync.
2. Update your application's S3 endpoint configuration. See update application endpoint.
3. Keep the Hetzner source bucket for 30 days as a rollback target.
4. Cancel your Hetzner Object Storage subscription after the holdover period.

See also#

• Plan your migration: compatibility matrix, validation checklist
• Migration tools comparison: rclone configuration and alternatives
• Update application endpoint: swap SDK config to Quake AI