The 2GB limit includes overhead. If you attempt an operation that requires the use of some of that overhead then your issue will likely remain. Not 100% sure, but I suspect that to copy a table in a db as large as 1.6 GB could exceed what space you have left. Question is, is your file still large because of text type data or something else? How many records/fields/tables are we talking about here? You might have attachments that have remained in a system table.
The more we hear silence, the more we begin to think about our value in this universe.
Paraphrase of Professor Brian Cox.