C:\ drive ran out of space during transfer to Google Drive, can't figure out how to re-claim C:\ space

Help and Support
1

What is the problem you are having with rclone?
I was trying to transfer my files from my local machine (D:\ drive) to Google Drive, when my C:\ (Boot) drive ran out of space, causing rclone to spit out a giant non-sensical error and windows giving me an error alerting me of running out of space.

Run the command 'rclone version' and share the full output of the command.

rclone v1.71.2
-  os/version: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro 23H2 23H2 (64 bit)
-  os/kernel: 10.0.22631.6199 (x86_64)
-  os/type: windows
-  os/arch: amd64
-  go/version: go1.25.3
-  go/linking: static
-  go/tags: cmount

Which cloud storage system are you using? (eg Google Drive)
Google Drive

The command you were trying to run (eg rclone copy /tmp remote:tmp)

rclone copy "D:\SteelSeries_Clips" "drive:/SteelSeries_Clips_2025_12_07" --drive-chunk-size 1G --transfers 32 --checkers 32 --multi-thread-streams 16 --multi-thread-cutoff 50M --tpslimit 10 --tpslimit-burst 10 --progress

Please run 'rclone config redacted' and share the full output. If you get command not found, please make sure to update rclone.

[drive]
type = drive
client_id = XXX
client_secret = XXX
scope = drive
token = XXX
team_drive =
### Double check the config for sensitive info before posting publicly

A log from the command that you were trying to run with the -vv flag

-

Extremely sorry, but I can’t figure out how to get the log for the life of me. Any help would be appreciated.

I’ve been using Google Drive to back up a bunch of mp4 files that have been taking up space on my local machine. I’ve done this once before with no issues, but since I was uploading ~90GB worth of files I tweaked the command posted above. Everything went smoothly, files were uploading blazingly fast, until I got a pop-up alert from windows teling me I’m running out of space. Upon further review, I noticed rclone had spat out a giant error (1000+ lines), and that my C:\ (Boot) drive was full. rclone is located on my C:\ (Boot) drive, though it is not installed as path. Anytime I use it, I go to:

C:\Users\fww97\Downloads\rclone-v1.71.2-windows-amd64\rclone-v1.71.2-windows-amd64

And run my commands from there.

I restarted my PC, and my C:\ (Boot) drive was still full. I need help figuring out how to re-claim the ~20GB rclone took from me. I’ve cleared %tmp% but the files weren’t stored there.

Before starting the transfer, I had about ~20GB on my C:\ (Boot) drive, afterwards I had about ~1.85GB.

Extremely sorry if this post is disorganized, I tried my best. Additionally I’m sorry for not providing the log file, I can’t figure out how to get it.

2 
--drive-chunk-size 1G --transfers 32

Thats probably a bad idea, requiring 32gb (1gb*32) of memory. When there is not enough memory windows uses pagefile (disk as a virtual memory). You can check the size of pagefile and if needed shrink it. In general using flags you don't understand is often a bad idea anyways, the defaults are already tuned for general usage. If your pagefile isn't crazy huge please let us know so we can look further

3

Thank you so much for your reply, it truly means the world to me.

Yeah I should not have messed around with the flags you’re completely right.
My pagefile on the affected C:\ (Boot) drive is 4.4GB, which I don’t believe is abnormal? Especially since it’s not close to the ~20GB lost.

4

welcome to the forum,

based on your command, rclone is not using the c: drive.

you are uploading files, so rclone is not using any space on the local machine

5

Right, but before I started with the upload I had ~20GB. During the upload, I got an windows pop-up warning alerting me that my C:\ (Boot) drive had run out of space. And after checking, ~20GB was mysteriously filled up and rclone had errored.

I don’t believe rclone would have thrown an error if it wasn’t a related issue. I first tried researching the error, but it was thousands upon thousands of lines long. I then tried restarting my machine to no avail.

6

Anyone able to help me? :pensive_face:

7

look for the files under that folder

for new users writing commands, on the fly, on the command line, it is common to make basic syntax errors.
thinking you are copying files to google drive but in fact are copied to local folder under the current working folder.

in the 7+ years of using rclone and being a forum member, i never seen that reported.
i really doubt rclone took anything from you, as that would be a major bug.

fwiw, going forward.

  • always run commands in a batch script, never on the command line.
  • always use a rclone debug log.
  • understand the purpose of flags before using them.
    a lot of flags used do not make sense, are dangerous, and have little to no practical value.
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