diff --git a/src/basic_memory/cli/commands/cloud/rclone_commands.py b/src/basic_memory/cli/commands/cloud/rclone_commands.py
index dcf399d6..8b814956 100644
--- a/src/basic_memory/cli/commands/cloud/rclone_commands.py
+++ b/src/basic_memory/cli/commands/cloud/rclone_commands.py
@@ -471,6 +471,10 @@ def project_copy_file(
         f"{source_root}/{source_rel_path}",
         f"{dest_root}/{dest_rel_path}",
         *TIGRIS_CONSISTENCY_HEADERS,
+        # Matches _build_transfer_cmd: on pull this writes the conflict copy to
+        # the local filesystem, where this prevents NUL byte padding on virtual
+        # filesystems (e.g. Google Drive File Stream). See rclone/rclone#6801.
+        "--local-no-preallocate",
     ]
     if verbose:
         cmd.append("--verbose")
diff --git a/tests/test_rclone_commands.py b/tests/test_rclone_commands.py
index 52aae305..449681f1 100644
--- a/tests/test_rclone_commands.py
+++ b/tests/test_rclone_commands.py
@@ -721,6 +721,8 @@ def test_project_copy_file_pull_copyto_renames_on_dest(tmp_path):
     assert cmd[:2] == ["rclone", "copyto"]
     assert cmd[2] == "basic-memory-cloud:my-bucket/research/notes/dup.md"
     assert cmd[3] == "/tmp/research/notes/dup.conflict-S.md"
+    # pull writes the conflict copy locally → must guard virtual-FS NUL padding
+    assert "--local-no-preallocate" in cmd
 
 
 def test_project_transfer_keep_both_copies_conflicts_then_additive(tmp_path):