diff --git a/pkg/rclone/rcserver/rc.go b/pkg/rclone/rcserver/rc.go
index 639d0848e..0e0537d07 100644
--- a/pkg/rclone/rcserver/rc.go
+++ b/pkg/rclone/rcserver/rc.go
@@ -554,7 +554,9 @@ func rcCopyPaths() func(ctx context.Context, in rc.Params) (rc.Params, error) {
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
-
+		if len(paths) == 0 {
+			return nil, nil
+		}
 		return nil, sync.CopyPaths(ctx, dstFs, dstRemote, srcFs, srcRemote, paths, false)
 	}
 }
diff --git a/pkg/scyllaclient/client_rclone.go b/pkg/scyllaclient/client_rclone.go
index 4db3e2782..b4f415353 100644
--- a/pkg/scyllaclient/client_rclone.go
+++ b/pkg/scyllaclient/client_rclone.go
@@ -280,6 +280,9 @@ func (c *Client) RcloneCopyPaths(ctx context.Context, host, dstRemoteDir, srcRem
 	if err != nil {
 		return 0, err
 	}
+	if paths == nil {
+		paths = make([]string, 0)
+	}
 
 	p := operations.SyncCopyPathsParams{
 		Context: forceHost(ctx, host),