diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/ColumnFamilyStore.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/ColumnFamilyStore.java
index 084f9f56d8..1dac2d1c63 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/ColumnFamilyStore.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/ColumnFamilyStore.java
@@ -729,19 +729,19 @@ public static void removeUnfinishedCompactionLeftovers(CFMetaData metadata, Map<
         }
 
         // remove old sstables from compactions that did complete
-        for (Map.Entry<Descriptor, Set<Component>> sstableFiles : directories.sstableLister().list().entrySet())
-        {
-            Descriptor desc = sstableFiles.getKey();
-            if (completedAncestors.contains(desc.generation))
-            {
-                // if any of the ancestors were participating in a compaction, finish that compaction
-                logger.info("Going to delete leftover compaction ancestor {}", desc);
-                SSTable.delete(desc, sstableFiles.getValue());
-                UUID compactionTaskID = unfinishedCompactions.get(desc.generation);
-                if (compactionTaskID != null)
-                    SystemKeyspace.finishCompaction(unfinishedCompactions.get(desc.generation));
-            }
-        }
+//        for (Map.Entry<Descriptor, Set<Component>> sstableFiles : directories.sstableLister().list().entrySet())
+//        {
+//            Descriptor desc = sstableFiles.getKey();
+//            if (completedAncestors.contains(desc.generation))
+//            {
+//                // if any of the ancestors were participating in a compaction, finish that compaction
+//                logger.info("Going to delete leftover compaction ancestor {}", desc);
+//                SSTable.delete(desc, sstableFiles.getValue());
+//                UUID compactionTaskID = unfinishedCompactions.get(desc.generation);
+//                if (compactionTaskID != null)
+//                    SystemKeyspace.finishCompaction(unfinishedCompactions.get(desc.generation));
+//            }
+//        }
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/CassandraDaemon.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/CassandraDaemon.java
index b0ff5c0a11..558afa0416 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/CassandraDaemon.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/CassandraDaemon.java
@@ -54,7 +54,6 @@
 import com.codahale.metrics.jvm.GarbageCollectorMetricSet;
 import com.codahale.metrics.jvm.MemoryUsageGaugeSet;
 import com.google.common.annotations.VisibleForTesting;
-import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMap;
 import com.google.common.util.concurrent.Futures;
 import com.google.common.util.concurrent.ListenableFuture;
 import com.google.common.util.concurrent.Uninterruptibles;
@@ -260,21 +259,27 @@ private void completeSetupMayThrowSstableException() {
         // load schema from disk
         Schema.instance.loadFromDisk();
 
+        // clean up compaction leftovers
         Map<Pair<String, String>, Map<Integer, UUID>> unfinishedCompactions = SystemKeyspace.getUnfinishedCompactions();
+        for (Pair<String, String> kscf : unfinishedCompactions.keySet())
+        {
+            CFMetaData cfm = Schema.instance.getCFMetaData(kscf.left, kscf.right);
+            // CFMetaData can be null if CF is already dropped
+            if (cfm != null)
+                ColumnFamilyStore.removeUnfinishedCompactionLeftovers(cfm, unfinishedCompactions.get(kscf));
+        }
+        SystemKeyspace.discardCompactionsInProgress();
+
         // clean up debris in the rest of the keyspaces
         for (String keyspaceName : Schema.instance.getKeyspaces())
         {
-            // Skip system as we'll already clean it after the other tables
+            // Skip system as we've already cleaned it
             if (keyspaceName.equals(SystemKeyspace.NAME))
                 continue;
 
             for (CFMetaData cfm : Schema.instance.getKeyspaceMetaData(keyspaceName).values())
-            {
-                ColumnFamilyStore.removeUnfinishedCompactionLeftovers(cfm, unfinishedCompactions.getOrDefault(cfm.ksAndCFName, ImmutableMap.of()));
                 ColumnFamilyStore.scrubDataDirectories(cfm);
-            }
         }
-        SystemKeyspace.discardCompactionsInProgress();
 
         Keyspace.setInitialized();