diff --git a/cmd/influxd/backup/backup.go b/cmd/influxd/backup/backup.go
index 5ba5069190..448d0ac0c3 100644
--- a/cmd/influxd/backup/backup.go
+++ b/cmd/influxd/backup/backup.go
@@ -301,24 +301,34 @@ func (cmd *Command) download(req *snapshotter.Request, path string) error {
 	}
 	defer f.Close()
 
-	// Connect to snapshotter service.
-	conn, err := tcp.Dial("tcp", cmd.host, snapshotter.MuxHeader)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-	defer conn.Close()
+	for i := 0; i < 10; i++ {
+		if err = func() error {
+			// Connect to snapshotter service.
+			conn, err := tcp.Dial("tcp", cmd.host, snapshotter.MuxHeader)
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+			defer conn.Close()
 
-	// Write the request
-	if err := json.NewEncoder(conn).Encode(req); err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("encode snapshot request: %s", err)
+			// Write the request
+			if err := json.NewEncoder(conn).Encode(req); err != nil {
+				return fmt.Errorf("encode snapshot request: %s", err)
+			}
+
+			// Read snapshot from the connection
+			if n, err := io.Copy(f, conn); err != nil || n == 0 {
+				return fmt.Errorf("copy backup to file: err=%v, n=%d", err, n)
+			}
+			return nil
+		}(); err == nil {
+			break
+		} else if err != nil {
+			cmd.Logger.Printf("Download shard %v failed %s.  Retrying (%d)...\n", req.ShardID, err, i)
+			time.Sleep(time.Second)
+		}
 	}
 
-	// Read snapshot from the connection
-	if _, err := io.Copy(f, conn); err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("copy backup to file: %s", err)
-	}
-
-	return nil
+	return err
 }
 
 // requestInfo will request the database or retention policy information from the host
diff --git a/cmd/influxd/restore/restore.go b/cmd/influxd/restore/restore.go
index 87f1f44079..253cb81e0a 100644
--- a/cmd/influxd/restore/restore.go
+++ b/cmd/influxd/restore/restore.go
@@ -159,8 +159,8 @@ func (cmd *Command) unpackMeta() error {
 	i += int(length)
 
 	// Size of the node.json bytes
-	i += 8
 	length = int(binary.BigEndian.Uint64(b[i : i+8]))
+	i += 8
 	nodeBytes := b[i : i+length]
 
 	// Unpack into metadata.
diff --git a/cmd/influxd/run/backup_restore_test.go b/cmd/influxd/run/backup_restore_test.go
index c6b419d81b..ee9fda7656 100644
--- a/cmd/influxd/run/backup_restore_test.go
+++ b/cmd/influxd/run/backup_restore_test.go
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ import (
 )
 
 func TestServer_BackupAndRestore(t *testing.T) {
-	t.Skip("currently fails intermittently.  See issue https://github.com/influxdata/influxdb/issues/6590")
 	config := NewConfig()
 	config.Data.Engine = "tsm1"
 	config.Data.Dir, _ = ioutil.TempDir("", "data_backup")
@@ -25,7 +24,7 @@ func TestServer_BackupAndRestore(t *testing.T) {
 
 	db := "mydb"
 	rp := "forever"
-	expected := `{"results":[{"series":[{"name":"myseries","columns":["time","host","value"],"values":[["1970-01-01T00:00:00.001Z","A",23]]}]}]}`
+	expected := `{"results":[{"statement_id":0,"series":[{"name":"myseries","columns":["time","host","value"],"values":[["1970-01-01T00:00:00.001Z","A",23]]}]}]}`
 
 	// set the cache snapshot size low so that a single point will cause TSM file creation
 	config.Data.CacheSnapshotMemorySize = 1
diff --git a/tsdb/engine/tsm1/engine.go b/tsdb/engine/tsm1/engine.go
index 37ba8ee2a3..4d09922b05 100644
--- a/tsdb/engine/tsm1/engine.go
+++ b/tsdb/engine/tsm1/engine.go
@@ -489,6 +489,9 @@ func (e *Engine) Backup(w io.Writer, basePath string, since time.Time) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
+	tw := tar.NewWriter(w)
+	defer tw.Close()
+
 	// Remove the temporary snapshot dir
 	defer os.RemoveAll(path)
 
@@ -515,9 +518,6 @@ func (e *Engine) Backup(w io.Writer, basePath string, since time.Time) error {
 		return nil
 	}
 
-	tw := tar.NewWriter(w)
-	defer tw.Close()
-
 	for _, f := range files {
 		if err := e.writeFileToBackup(f, basePath, filepath.Join(path, f.Name()), tw); err != nil {
 			return err
diff --git a/tsdb/engine/tsm1/reader.go b/tsdb/engine/tsm1/reader.go
index f8e5485894..fca6bb3ca5 100644
--- a/tsdb/engine/tsm1/reader.go
+++ b/tsdb/engine/tsm1/reader.go
@@ -327,7 +327,7 @@ func (t *TSMReader) Close() error {
 	t.mu.Lock()
 	defer t.mu.Unlock()
 
-	if t.refs > 0 {
+	if t.InUse() {
 		return ErrFileInUse
 	}