WebDAV (TGFS) upload of 700GB file hits 0free disk space on 215GB SSD / 4GB RAM machine

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I asked a lot to Google gemini, I tried different mount commands. I tried uploading it 4 times. And it failed 4 times.

What is the problem you are having with rclone?

It's eating my whole disk

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

root@oude-laptop:~# rclone version

rclone v1.61.1

- os/version: debian 13.3 (64 bit)

- os/kernel: 6.12.69+deb13-amd64 (x86_64)

- os/type: linux

- os/arch: amd64

- go/version: go1.19.4

- go/linking: static

- go/tags: none

root@oude-laptop:~#

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

Webdav

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

rclone mount tgfs_crypt: /mnt/telegram \

--vfs-cache-mode writes \

--vfs-cache-max-size 10G \

--vfs-write-back 2s \

--vfs-cache-max-age 1m \

--buffer-size 32M \

--low-level-retries 1000 \

--retries 999 \

--allow-other -v -P

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

root@oude-laptop:~# rclone config dump

{

"tgfs_crypt": {

    "filename_encryption": "obfuscate",

    "password": "redacted",

    "password2": "redacted",

    "remote": "tgfs_raw:/default",

    "type": "crypt"

},

"tgfs_raw": {

    "pass": "redacted",

    "type": "webdav",

    "url": "http://localhost:1900/webdav",

    "user": "vulcanocraft",

    "vendor": "other"

}

}

root@oude-laptop:~#

Hi everyone,

I am struggling to upload a 700GB .7z file to a Telegram-based backend (TGFS). The upload keeps failing because my local system disk hits 0% free space, causing the mount and the SFTP server to crash.

My Stack:

Filezilla (Remote Client) → Tailscale → SFTPGo (SFTP Server) → Rclone Mount → Rclone Crypt → WebDAV (TGFS Backend) → Telegram

Hardware Constraints:

Host: Laptop with a 215GB SSD (Root partition is small).

RAM: Only 4GB DDR3 (Cannot use large RAM-disks/tmpfs).

OS: Debian 13.

The Problem:

Since the file (700GB) is significantly larger than my SSD (215GB), I need a way to "pass-through" the data without filling up the drive. However, when I try --vfs-cache-mode off, Rclone returns:

"NOTICE: Encrypted drive 'tgfs_crypt:': --vfs-cache-mode writes or full is recommended for this remote as it can't stream"

It appears the WebDAV implementation for TGFS requires caching to function. Even when I set --vfs-cache-max-size 10G, the disk eventually hits 0free, likely because chunks aren't being deleted fast enough or the VFS is overhead-heavy for this specific backend.

My current mount command:

rclone mount tgfs_crypt: /mnt/telegram \

--vfs-cache-mode writes \

--vfs-cache-max-size 10G \

--vfs-write-back 2s \

--vfs-cache-max-age 1m \

--buffer-size 32M \

--low-level-retries 1000 \

--retries 999 \

--allow-other -v -P

Questions:

- Is there any way to make Rclone's VFS cache extremely aggressive in deleting chunks the millisecond they are uploaded?

- Can I optimize the WebDAV settings to handle such a large file on a small disk?

- Are there specific flags to prevent the "can't stream" error while keeping the disk footprint near zero?

- Any insights from people running Rclone on low-resource hardware would be greatly appreciated.

You have an ancient version of rclone. You’d want to update it.

To see what’s going on, you want a log file.

You want to include rclone config redacted as well.

first of all, i sent the rclone config and redacted the sensitive info myself.
where can i find the log file?
Will the old version of rclone be the problem?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Unsure but I know we aren’t spending time debugging a multiple year old version.

You make it by appending -vv –log-file /some/directory/rclone.log when you are running the command.

root@oude-laptop:~# sudo rclone selfupdate
2026/02/28 12:58:42 NOTICE: Successfully updated rclone from version v1.61.1 to version v1.73.1
root@oude-laptop:~# rclone version
rclone v1.73.1

  • os/version: debian 13.3 (64 bit)
  • os/kernel: 6.12.69+deb13-amd64 (x86_64)
  • os/type: linux
  • os/arch: amd64
  • go/version: go1.25.7
  • go/linking: static
  • go/tags: none
    root@oude-laptop:~# rclone config redacted
    [tgfs_crypt]
    type = crypt
    remote = tgfs_raw:/default
    filename_encryption = obfuscate
    password = XXX
    password2 = XXX

[tgfs_raw]
type = webdav
url = http://localhost:1900/webdav
vendor = other
user = XXX
pass = XXX

Double check the config for sensitive info before posting publicly

root@oude-laptop:~#

rclone mount tgfs_crypt: /mnt/telegram --vfs-cache-mode writes --vfs-cache-max-size 10G --vfs-write-back 2s --vfs-cache-max-age 1m --buffer-size 32M --low-level-retries 1000 --retries 999 --allow-other --log-file "/media/devmon/New Volume/rclone_logs/rclone.log" -vv

I am currently running this command. I will send the log here when it’s ready