diff --git a/fs/btrfs/disk-io.c b/fs/btrfs/disk-io.c
index 0229c37..aed4062 100644
--- a/fs/btrfs/disk-io.c
+++ b/fs/btrfs/disk-io.c
@@ -2798,7 +2798,8 @@ retry_root_backup:
        ret = btrfs_read_block_groups(extent_root);
        if (ret) {
                printk(KERN_ERR "BTRFS: Failed to read block groups: %d\n", ret);
-               goto fail_sysfs;
+               if (!btrfs_test_opt(tree_root, RECOVERY))
+                       goto fail_sysfs;
        }
        fs_info->num_tolerated_disk_barrier_failures =
                btrfs_calc_num_tolerated_disk_barrier_failures(fs_info);