diff --git a/meta-balena-common/recipes-core/initrdscripts/files/fsuuidsinit b/meta-balena-common/recipes-core/initrdscripts/files/fsuuidsinit
index e2d626e4ad..e6614f4da4 100644
--- a/meta-balena-common/recipes-core/initrdscripts/files/fsuuidsinit
+++ b/meta-balena-common/recipes-core/initrdscripts/files/fsuuidsinit
@@ -30,12 +30,11 @@ fsuuidsinit_enabled() {
         return 1
     fi
 
-    # Wait for balena by-state symlinks to come up
-    # We only wait for resin-rootA here as we use it right away
-    # but we in fact assume the other symlinks are created as well
-    # wait4file does $2 loops of 100ms, therefore use 10 * roottimeout
     timeout=${bootparam_roottimeout:-5}
-    if ! wait4file "/dev/disk/by-state/resin-rootA" "$((timeout * 10))"; then
+    if ! ls /dev/disk/by-state/* \
+        && ! inotifywait -r /dev \
+                         --include 'disk/by-state/resin-+(boot|data|root[AB]|state)$' \
+                         --timeout "${timeout}"; then
         error "Timeout while waiting for resin-root partition to be detected"
         return 1
     fi
diff --git a/meta-balena-common/recipes-core/initrdscripts/files/machineid b/meta-balena-common/recipes-core/initrdscripts/files/machineid
index e61e55185d..b90e9477f2 100644
--- a/meta-balena-common/recipes-core/initrdscripts/files/machineid
+++ b/meta-balena-common/recipes-core/initrdscripts/files/machineid
@@ -13,10 +13,13 @@ machineid_enabled() {
 machineid_run() {
     # Mount the state partition - that's where we store the machine_id
     state_partition_path="$(get_state_path_from_label "resin-state")"
-    if ! wait4file "$state_partition_path" "300"; then
+    if [ ! -e "${state_partition_path}" ] \
+        && ! inotifywait -r /dev \
+                         --include "${state_partition_path#/dev/}" \
+                         --timeout 30; then
         error "Timeout while waiting for resin-state partition to be detected."
         error "Not able to mount resin-state, machine-id will not be persistent."
-	return
+        return
     fi
 
     info "Binding machine-id from ${state_partition_path}"
diff --git a/meta-balena-common/recipes-core/initrdscripts/files/resindataexpander b/meta-balena-common/recipes-core/initrdscripts/files/resindataexpander
index b5aad4d9f7..8361fd1b21 100644
--- a/meta-balena-common/recipes-core/initrdscripts/files/resindataexpander
+++ b/meta-balena-common/recipes-core/initrdscripts/files/resindataexpander
@@ -28,8 +28,12 @@ resindataexpander_enabled() {
     datadev=$(lsblk "/dev/${datapartdev}" -d -n -o PKNAME)
     pttype=$(get_part_table_type "/dev/${datadev}")
 
-    if ! wait4file "$datapart" "300"; then
-        error "Timeout while waiting for data partition to be detected. Data partition expansion will not be tried."
+    if [ ! -e "${datapart}" ] \
+        && ! inotifywait -r /dev \
+                         --include "${datapart#/dev/}" \
+                         --timeout 30; then
+        error "Timeout while waiting for data partition to be detected." \
+            "Data partition expansion will not be tried."
         return 1
     fi
 
diff --git a/meta-balena-common/recipes-support/os-helpers/os-helpers.bb b/meta-balena-common/recipes-support/os-helpers/os-helpers.bb
index d6b7dff4a2..22cc70caf6 100644
--- a/meta-balena-common/recipes-support/os-helpers/os-helpers.bb
+++ b/meta-balena-common/recipes-support/os-helpers/os-helpers.bb
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ LICENSE = "Apache-2.0"
 LIC_FILES_CHKSUM = "file://${BALENA_COREBASE}/COPYING.Apache-2.0;md5=89aea4e17d99a7cacdbeed46a0096b10"
 
 DEPENDS = "time-native"
-RDEPENDS:${PN}-fs = "e2fsprogs-tune2fs mtools parted bash util-linux-fdisk"
+RDEPENDS:${PN}-fs = "e2fsprogs-tune2fs mtools parted bash util-linux-fdisk inotify-tools"
 RDEPENDS:${PN}-fs:append = "${@bb.utils.contains('MACHINE_FEATURES','raid',' mdadm','',d)}"
 RDEPENDS:${PN}-tpm2 = "libtss2-tcti-device tpm2-tools"
 RDEPENDS:${PN}-config = "bash"
diff --git a/meta-balena-common/recipes-support/os-helpers/os-helpers/os-helpers-fs b/meta-balena-common/recipes-support/os-helpers/os-helpers/os-helpers-fs
index ae29a2cf56..d356f055f7 100644
--- a/meta-balena-common/recipes-support/os-helpers/os-helpers/os-helpers-fs
+++ b/meta-balena-common/recipes-support/os-helpers/os-helpers/os-helpers-fs
@@ -16,26 +16,6 @@ if [ -f "/usr/libexec/os-helpers-logging" ]; then
 . /usr/libexec/os-helpers-logging
 fi
 
-# Wait for a file to appear with loop count limit.
-# Use-case example: wait for udev to create a filesystem symlink.
-# Arguments:
-#   1 - target path
-#   2 - number of loops (each loop sleeps for 100ms)
-wait4file() {
-	_lpath="$1"
-	_lloops="$2"
-
-	while [ ! -e "$_lpath" ]; do
-		if [ "$_lloops" -gt 0 ]; then
-			sleep 0.1
-			_lloops=$((_lloops-1))
-		else
-			return 1
-		fi
-	done
-	return 0
-}
-
 # Output the UUID for the specified block device.
 # Arguments:
 #   1 - Target block device
diff --git a/meta-balena-common/recipes-support/resin-mounts/resin-mounts/resin-partition-mounter b/meta-balena-common/recipes-support/resin-mounts/resin-mounts/resin-partition-mounter
index e32bd166dc..6c77f28096 100644
--- a/meta-balena-common/recipes-support/resin-mounts/resin-mounts/resin-partition-mounter
+++ b/meta-balena-common/recipes-support/resin-mounts/resin-mounts/resin-partition-mounter
@@ -20,8 +20,6 @@
 
 set -e
 
-TIMEOUT_LOOPS=300 # ~ 100ms/loop * 300loops = 30000ms = 30s
-
 #
 # Help message
 #
@@ -103,7 +101,10 @@ if [ ! -d "$target_mountpoint" ]; then
     echo "ERROR: Target mountpoint $target_mountpoint not found."
     exit 1
 fi
-if ! wait4file "$target_path" "$TIMEOUT_LOOPS"; then
+if [ ! -e "${target_path}" ] \
+    && ! inotifywait -r /dev \
+                     --include "${target_path#/dev/}" \
+                     --timeout 30; then
     echo "ERROR: Timeout while waiting for $target_path to come up."
     exit 1
 fi