diff --git a/zstor/src/actors/zstor.rs b/zstor/src/actors/zstor.rs
index bb5da36..2f1a17e 100644
--- a/zstor/src/actors/zstor.rs
+++ b/zstor/src/actors/zstor.rs
@@ -258,7 +258,7 @@ impl Handler<Retrieve> for ZstorActor {
                         )
                     })?;
 
-                let shards = load_data(&metadata).await?;
+                let shards = load_data(&metadata, 1).await?;
 
                 pipeline
                     .send(RecoverFile {
@@ -335,7 +335,7 @@ impl Handler<Rebuild> for ZstorActor {
                 };
 
                 // load the data from the storage backends
-                let input = load_data(&old_metadata).await?;
+                let input = load_data(&old_metadata, 3).await?;
                 let existing_data = input.clone();
 
                 // rebuild the data (in memory only)
@@ -454,7 +454,8 @@ impl Handler<ReloadConfig> for ZstorActor {
     }
 }
 
-async fn load_data(metadata: &MetaData) -> ZstorResult<Vec<Option<Vec<u8>>>> {
+/// load data from the storage backends
+async fn load_data(metadata: &MetaData, max_attempts: u64) -> ZstorResult<Vec<Option<Vec<u8>>>> {
     // attempt to retrieve all shards
     let mut shard_loads: Vec<JoinHandle<(usize, Result<(_, _), ZstorError>)>> =
         Vec::with_capacity(metadata.shards().len());
@@ -468,7 +469,7 @@ async fn load_data(metadata: &MetaData) -> ZstorResult<Vec<Option<Vec<u8>>>> {
                 Ok(ok) => ok,
                 Err(e) => return (idx, Err(e.into())),
             };
-            match db.get(&key).await {
+            match db.get_with_retry(&key, max_attempts).await {
                 Ok(potential_shard) => match potential_shard {
                     Some(shard) => (idx, Ok((shard, chksum))),
                     None => (
diff --git a/zstor/src/zdb.rs b/zstor/src/zdb.rs
index d180a8a..6b64135 100644
--- a/zstor/src/zdb.rs
+++ b/zstor/src/zdb.rs
@@ -759,6 +759,39 @@ impl SequentialZdb {
         Ok(Some(data))
     }
 
+    /// get data from the zdb with a retry mechanism.
+    /// The retry will only happen at temporary errors,
+    /// currently only timeouts.
+    pub async fn get_with_retry(
+        &self,
+        keys: &[Key],
+        max_attempts: u64,
+    ) -> ZdbResult<Option<Vec<u8>>> {
+        if max_attempts < 2 {
+            return self.get(keys).await;
+        }
+
+        let mut last_error = None;
+
+        for attempt in 0..max_attempts {
+            match self.get(keys).await {
+                Ok(result) => return Ok(result),
+                Err(e) => {
+                    if e.internal == ErrorCause::Timeout {
+                        last_error = Some(e);
+                        if attempt < max_attempts - 1 {
+                            debug!("timeout error on attempt {}, retrying", attempt + 1);
+                        }
+                        continue;
+                    }
+                    return Err(e);
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        Err(last_error.unwrap())
+    }
+
     /// Returns the [`ZdbConnectionInfo`] object used to connect to this db.
     #[inline]
     pub fn connection_info(&self) -> &ZdbConnectionInfo {
@@ -1037,7 +1070,7 @@ impl ZdbError {
 }
 
 /// The cause of a zero db error.
-#[derive(Debug)]
+#[derive(Debug, PartialEq)]
 enum ErrorCause {
     Redis(redis::RedisError),
     Other(String),