This problem does not seem to occur when there is plenty of free space. It makes it impossible to fill the partition any more than this:
/dev/sda1 1.4T 1.3T 1.8G 100% -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [email protected] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [email protected] Archive: http://lists.debian.org/[email protected]

