diff --git a/crates/ecstore/src/disk/fs.rs b/crates/ecstore/src/disk/fs.rs
index 585128cf7..8612b6474 100644
--- a/crates/ecstore/src/disk/fs.rs
+++ b/crates/ecstore/src/disk/fs.rs
@@ -277,9 +277,8 @@ pub async fn cached_access(path: impl AsRef<Path>) -> io::Result<()> {
     if let Some(exists) = BUCKET_EXISTENCE_CACHE.check_exists(&path_buf) {
         if exists {
             return Ok(());
-        } else {
-            return Err(io::Error::new(io::ErrorKind::NotFound, "bucket not found (cached)"));
         }
+        return Err(io::Error::new(io::ErrorKind::NotFound, "bucket not found (cached)"));
     }
 
     let result = fs::metadata(&path_buf).await;
diff --git a/crates/ecstore/src/services/rebalance/entry.rs b/crates/ecstore/src/services/rebalance/entry.rs
index 109827986..d6c8b917a 100644
--- a/crates/ecstore/src/services/rebalance/entry.rs
+++ b/crates/ecstore/src/services/rebalance/entry.rs
@@ -1385,9 +1385,6 @@ mod tests {
     async fn real_rebalance_run_fence_loss_blocks_multipart_publication() {
         const REBALANCE_ID: &str = "rebalance-multipart-commit-fence";
         let bucket = crate::disk::RUSTFS_META_BUCKET;
-        let (_temp_dirs, store, _unused_store) =
-            crate::services::rebalance::test_two_pool_stores(Some(active_rebalance_meta(REBALANCE_ID))).await;
-        prepare_rebalance_test_volumes(store.as_ref()).await;
         for (object, pause, staged_commit) in [
             (
                 "rebalance-multipart-new-upload-fence",
@@ -1401,6 +1398,9 @@ mod tests {
             ),
             ("rebalance-multipart-completion-fence", MultipartCommitPause::BeforeQuotaRename, None),
         ] {
+            let (_temp_dirs, store, _unused_store) =
+                crate::services::rebalance::test_two_pool_stores(Some(active_rebalance_meta(REBALANCE_ID))).await;
+            prepare_rebalance_test_volumes(store.as_ref()).await;
             let source_set = store.pools[0].get_disks_by_key(object);
             let target_set = store.pools[1].get_disks_by_key(object);
             let upload = source_set
diff --git a/crates/ecstore/src/services/rebalance/rebalance_unit_tests.rs b/crates/ecstore/src/services/rebalance/rebalance_unit_tests.rs
index d475a606c..e1b691f07 100644
--- a/crates/ecstore/src/services/rebalance/rebalance_unit_tests.rs
+++ b/crates/ecstore/src/services/rebalance/rebalance_unit_tests.rs
@@ -2685,7 +2685,10 @@ async fn test_start_rebalance_for_id_rejects_changed_metadata() {
         .await
         .expect_err("staged start must not start changed metadata");
 
-    assert!(err.to_string().contains("rebalance metadata changed before start"));
+    assert!(
+        err.to_string()
+            .contains("stale rebalance worker rejected during start rebalance")
+    );
 }
 
 #[tokio::test]