It is actually not easy to properly backup Google Workspace data securely to external storage. ChromeOS also has its challenges to get the data securely encrypted on external storage.
Google Takeout often fails. The method that works consistently for me:
- Scheduled Takeout export to Google Drive (assuming you have sufficient storage). File type .zip with size 1GB.
- Launch Cryptomator AppImage (which I store on the external USB Drive) to mount the encrypted directory /mnt/chromeos/removable/MyPassport/cryptomator/Vault/ as /mnt/chromeos/removable/MyPassport/cryptomator/Unlocked/:
/mnt/chromeos/removable/MyPassport/cryptomator-1.14.2-x86_64.AppImage
- Once the Takeout export is done, using Terminal on ChromeOS I rsync the files from Google Drive to the encrypted vault
rsync -rv --progress --size-only /mnt/chromeos/GoogleDrive/MyDrive/Takeout/* /mnt/chromeos/removable/MyPassport/cryptomator/Unlocked/Takeout 2501/
- When the rsync is done, I validate the zip files
unzip -tq '/mnt/chromeos/removable/MyPassport/cryptomator/Unlocked/Takeout 2501/*.zip'
- I then remove the backup from Google Drive and safely store my external USB drive
I wish I could find an easier process, however this is the only way that consistently works for me.