Rclone uploads failing to Proton Drive

[slavala (SL)]

What is the problem you are having with rclone?

Since 16-09-2025, uploads to Proton Drive via rclone consistently fail. Listing files and other read operations work, but uploads always return errors:

• 422 POST https://<region>-storage.proton.me/storage/blocks: Operation failed: Please retry (Code=200501, Status=422)
• 422 POST https://mail.proton.me/api/drive/shares/.../files: A file or folder with that name already exists (Code=2500, Status=422)

Attempts with --protondrive-replace-existing-draft=true do not resolve the issue. The same rclone configuration worked fine for months prior.

RCLONE VERSION:
--> rclone v1.71.0 (Linux)

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

Proton Drive

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

rclone copy hello.txt remote_proton:test-write/ -vv --protondrive-replace-existing-draft=true --dump-headers

The rclone config contents with secrets removed.

[remote_proton]
type = protondrive
username = *****
password = *****
2fa = *****
client_uid = *****
client_access_token = *****
client_refresh_token = *****
client_salted_key_pass = *****
replace_existing_draft = true

A log from the command with the -vv flag

rclone: Version "v1.71.0" starting with parameters ["rclone" "copy" "<TEST_FILE>" "remote_proton:<TEST_FOLDER>/" "-vv" "--protondrive-replace-existing-draft=true"]
2025/09/17 HH:MM DEBUG : Creating backend with remote "<TEST_FILE>"
2025/09/17 HH:MM DEBUG : Using config file from "/home/<USER>/.config/rclone/rclone.conf"
2025/09/17 HH:MM DEBUG : fs cache: renaming child cache item "<TEST_FILE>" to be canonical for parent "/tmp"
2025/09/17 HH:MM DEBUG : Creating backend with remote "remote_proton:<TEST_FOLDER>/"
2025/09/17 HH:MM DEBUG : remote_proton: detected overridden config - adding "{kpshc}" suffix to name
2025/09/17 HH:MM DEBUG : proton drive root link ID '<TEST_FOLDER>': Has cached credentials
2025/09/17 HH:MM DEBUG : proton drive root link ID '<TEST_FOLDER>': Used cached credential to initialize the ProtonDrive API
2025/09/17 HH:MM DEBUG : fs cache: renaming cache item "remote_proton:<TEST_FOLDER>/" to be canonical "remote_proton{kpshc}:<TEST_FOLDER>"
2025/09/17 HH:MM DEBUG : <TEST_FILE>: Need to transfer - File not found at Destination
2025/09/17 HH:MM WARN RESTY 422 POST https://mail.proton.me/api/drive/shares/<REDACTED_SHARE_ID>/files: A file or folder with that name already exists (Code=2500, Status=422), Attempt 1
2025/09/17 HH:MM ERROR RESTY 422 POST https://mail.proton.me/api/drive/shares/<REDACTED_SHARE_ID>/files: A file or folder with that name already exists (Code=2500, Status=422)
2025/09/17 HH:MM WARN RESTY 422 POST https://<REGION>-storage.proton.me/storage/blocks: Operation failed: Please retry (Code=200501, Status=422), Attempt 1
2025/09/17 HH:MM ERROR RESTY 422 POST https://<REGION>-storage.proton.me/storage/blocks: Operation failed: Please retry (Code=200501, Status=422)
2025/09/17 HH:MM ERROR : <TEST_FILE>: Failed to copy: 422 POST https://<REGION>-storage.proton.me/storage/blocks: Operation failed: Please retry (Code=200501, Status=422)
2025/09/17 HH:MM ERROR : Attempt 1/3 failed with 1 errors and: 422 POST https://<REGION>-storage.proton.me/storage/blocks: Operation failed: Please retry (Code=200501, Status=422)
2025/09/17 HH:MM DEBUG : <TEST_FILE>: Need to transfer - File not found at Destination
2025/09/17 HH:MM WARN RESTY 422 POST https://mail.proton.me/api/drive/shares/<REDACTED_SHARE_ID>/files: A file or folder with that name already exists (Code=2500, Status=422), Attempt 1
2025/09/17 HH:MM ERROR RESTY 422 POST https://mail.proton.me/api/drive/shares/<REDACTED_SHARE_ID>/files: A file or folder with that name already exists (Code=2500, Status=422)
2025/09/17 HH:MM WARN RESTY 422 POST https://<REGION>-storage.proton.me/storage/blocks: Operation failed: Please retry (Code=200501, Status=422), Attempt 1
2025/09/17 HH:MM ERROR RESTY 422 POST https://<REGION>-storage.proton.me/storage/blocks: Operation failed: Please retry (Code=200501, Status=422)
2025/09/17 HH:MM ERROR : <TEST_FILE>: Failed to copy: 422 POST https://<REGION>-storage.proton.me/storage/blocks: Operation failed: Please retry (Code=200501, Status=422)
2025/09/17 HH:MM ERROR : Attempt 2/3 failed with 1 errors and: 422 POST https://<REGION>-storage.proton.me/storage/blocks: Operation failed: Please retry (Code=200501, Status=422)
2025/09/17 HH:MM DEBUG : <TEST_FILE>: Need to transfer - File not found at Destination
2025/09/17 HH:MM WARN RESTY 422 POST https://mail.proton.me/api/drive/shares/<REDACTED_SHARE_ID>/files: A file or folder with that name already exists (Code=2500, Status=422), Attempt 1
2025/09/17 HH:MM ERROR RESTY 422 POST https://mail.proton.me/api/drive/shares/<REDACTED_SHARE_ID>/files: A file or folder with that name already exists (Code=2500, Status=422)
2025/09/17 HH:MM WARN RESTY 422 POST https://<REGION>-storage.proton.me/storage/blocks: Operation failed: Please retry (Code=200501, Status=422), Attempt 1
2025/09/17 HH:MM ERROR RESTY 422 POST https://<REGION>-storage.proton.me/storage/blocks: Operation failed: Please retry (Code=200501, Status=422)
2025/09/17 HH:MM ERROR : <TEST_FILE>: Failed to copy: 422 POST https://<REGION>-storage.proton.me/storage/blocks: Operation failed: Please retry (Code=200501, Status=422)
2025/09/17 HH:MM ERROR : Attempt 3/3 failed with 1 errors and: 422 POST https://<REGION>-storage.proton.me/storage/blocks: Operation failed: Please retry (Code=200501, Status=422)
2025/09/17 HH:MM INFO  : 
Transferred:             18 B / 18 B, 100%, 2 B/s, ETA 0s
Errors:                 1 (retrying may help)
Elapsed time:         7.3s
2025/09/17 HH:MM DEBUG : 6 go routines active
2025/09/17 HH:MM NOTICE: Failed to copy: 422 POST https://<REGION>-storage.proton.me/storage/blocks: Operation failed: Please retry (Code=200501, Status=422)

[BEEFY-JOE]

I am having the exact same issues and it is driving me crazy.
I am using it differently and using vfs on a mount point.

#!/usr/bin/zshrclone mount protonDrive: ~/ProtonDrive --vfs-cache-mode writes --protondrive-replace-existing-draft

I only added the replace existing flag after i started recieving these errors.
Deleting the vfs cache after unmounting did not resolve the errors either.

[kapitainsky]

Sorry guys but there is nobody at the moment looking after Proton remote.

Existing implementation has been reverse engineered (due to lack of proper API and documentation from Proton) and original developer went quiet long time ago.

The best what you can do is to lobby Proton to officially allow 3rd party tools. Or even better to open their drive to some standard protocols like webdav or sftp.

Also see just posted:

Does Proton silently rate limit accounts that use rclone API with Proton Drive?

Hi everyone, I’ve been struggling for weeks with rclone + Proton Drive and wanted to ask if others are facing the same. Back in September 2024, rclone suddenly stopped working with Proton Drive. I raised a support ticket with Proton (support AT protondrive.zendesk DOT com) and what followed was a long back-and-forth that never gave me a clear answer. Instead, the replies felt like Proton was dodging the issue. From what I can tell, they quietly blocked rclone API access without publicly admit…

[isuru]

Thank you @kapitainsky .