diff --git a/internal/archiver/archiver_test.go b/internal/archiver/archiver_test.go
index ce38f52e2..40514500a 100644
--- a/internal/archiver/archiver_test.go
+++ b/internal/archiver/archiver_test.go
@@ -1856,7 +1856,7 @@ func TestArchiverAbortEarlyOnError(t *testing.T) {
 	var tests = []struct {
 		src       TestDir
 		wantOpen  map[string]uint
-		failAfter uint // error after so many files have been saved to the repo
+		failAfter uint // error after so many blobs have been saved to the repo
 		err       error
 	}{
 		{
@@ -1876,26 +1876,29 @@ func TestArchiverAbortEarlyOnError(t *testing.T) {
 		{
 			src: TestDir{
 				"dir": TestDir{
-					"file1": TestFile{Content: string(restictest.Random(3, 4*1024*1024))},
-					"file2": TestFile{Content: string(restictest.Random(3, 4*1024*1024))},
-					"file3": TestFile{Content: string(restictest.Random(3, 4*1024*1024))},
-					"file4": TestFile{Content: string(restictest.Random(3, 4*1024*1024))},
-					"file5": TestFile{Content: string(restictest.Random(3, 4*1024*1024))},
-					"file6": TestFile{Content: string(restictest.Random(3, 4*1024*1024))},
-					"file7": TestFile{Content: string(restictest.Random(3, 4*1024*1024))},
-					"file8": TestFile{Content: string(restictest.Random(3, 4*1024*1024))},
-					"file9": TestFile{Content: string(restictest.Random(3, 4*1024*1024))},
+					"file1": TestFile{Content: string(restictest.Random(1, 1024))},
+					"file2": TestFile{Content: string(restictest.Random(2, 1024))},
+					"file3": TestFile{Content: string(restictest.Random(3, 1024))},
+					"file4": TestFile{Content: string(restictest.Random(4, 1024))},
+					"file5": TestFile{Content: string(restictest.Random(5, 1024))},
+					"file6": TestFile{Content: string(restictest.Random(6, 1024))},
+					"file7": TestFile{Content: string(restictest.Random(7, 1024))},
+					"file8": TestFile{Content: string(restictest.Random(8, 1024))},
+					"file9": TestFile{Content: string(restictest.Random(9, 1024))},
 				},
 			},
 			wantOpen: map[string]uint{
 				filepath.FromSlash("dir/file1"): 1,
 				filepath.FromSlash("dir/file2"): 1,
 				filepath.FromSlash("dir/file3"): 1,
+				filepath.FromSlash("dir/file4"): 1,
 				filepath.FromSlash("dir/file7"): 0,
 				filepath.FromSlash("dir/file8"): 0,
 				filepath.FromSlash("dir/file9"): 0,
 			},
-			failAfter: 5,
+			// fails four to six files were opened as the FileReadConcurrency allows for
+			// two queued files
+			failAfter: 4,
 			err:       testErr,
 		},
 	}
@@ -1926,7 +1929,10 @@ func TestArchiverAbortEarlyOnError(t *testing.T) {
 				err:        test.err,
 			}
 
-			arch := New(testRepo, testFS, Options{})
+			// at most two files may be queued
+			arch := New(testRepo, testFS, Options{
+				FileReadConcurrency: 2,
+			})
 
 			_, _, err := arch.Snapshot(ctx, []string{"."}, SnapshotOptions{Time: time.Now()})
 			if errors.Cause(err) != test.err {