diff --git a/src/main/java/org/gcube/documentstore/persistence/FallbackMonitor.java b/src/main/java/org/gcube/documentstore/persistence/FallbackMonitor.java
index 25a95a0..f67c0c8 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/gcube/documentstore/persistence/FallbackMonitor.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/gcube/documentstore/persistence/FallbackMonitor.java
@@ -101,9 +101,7 @@ public class FallbackMonitor implements Runnable {
 
 		Long timestamp = Calendar.getInstance().getTimeInMillis();
 		File elaborationFile = fallbackPersistenceBackend.moveFallbackFile(ELABORATION_FILE_SUFFIX + "." + timestamp.toString());
-		
 		elaborateFallbackFile(elaborationFile);
-			
 	}
 	
 	@Override
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/gcube/documentstore/persistence/FallbackPersistenceBackend.java b/src/main/java/org/gcube/documentstore/persistence/FallbackPersistenceBackend.java
index ba622b6..6435fda 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/gcube/documentstore/persistence/FallbackPersistenceBackend.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/gcube/documentstore/persistence/FallbackPersistenceBackend.java
@@ -52,12 +52,16 @@ public class FallbackPersistenceBackend extends PersistenceBackend {
 	/**
 	 * Move the fallbackFile to a new file with the same name by appending a suffix
 	 * @param suffix
-	 * @return the move file
+	 * @return the moved file if any, null otherwise
 	 */
 	protected File moveFallbackFile(String suffix) {
 		synchronized(fallbackFile) {
 			try {
 				Path source = fallbackFile.toPath();
+				if(!fallbackFile.exists()) {
+					logger.trace("No fallback file {} found. Nothing to recover", source.toAbsolutePath().toString());
+					return null;
+				}
 				Path target = source.resolveSibling(fallbackFile.getName()+suffix);
 				logger.trace("Going to move fallback file {} to {}", source.toAbsolutePath().toString(), target.toAbsolutePath().toString());
 				target = Files.move(source, source.resolveSibling(fallbackFile.getName()+suffix), StandardCopyOption.ATOMIC_MOVE);