diff --git a/dpdispatcher/ssh_context.py b/dpdispatcher/ssh_context.py
index 796bac71..f655d31f 100644
--- a/dpdispatcher/ssh_context.py
+++ b/dpdispatcher/ssh_context.py
@@ -502,6 +502,14 @@ def bind_submission(self, submission):
             self.block_checkcall(
                 f"mv {shlex.quote(old_remote_root)} {shlex.quote(self.remote_root)}"
             )
+        elif (
+            old_remote_root is not None
+            and old_remote_root != self.remote_root
+            and self.check_file_exists(old_remote_root)
+            and not len(self.ssh_session.sftp.listdir(old_remote_root))
+        ):
+            # if the new directory exists and the old directory does not contain files, then move the old directory
+            self._rmtree(old_remote_root)
 
         sftp = self.ssh_session.ssh.open_sftp()
         try:
diff --git a/tests/test_ssh_context.py b/tests/test_ssh_context.py
index 6434f8d9..83ca23f2 100644
--- a/tests/test_ssh_context.py
+++ b/tests/test_ssh_context.py
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ def setUpClass(cls):
                 "key_filename": "/root/.ssh/id_rsa",
             },
         }
+        cls.mdata = mdata
         try:
             cls.machine = Machine.load_from_dict(mdata)
         except (SSHException, socket.timeout):
@@ -113,6 +114,53 @@ def test_empty_transfer(self):
         )
         submission.run_submission()
 
+    def test_recover(self):
+        """Test recover from a previous submission."""
+        machine = Machine.load_from_dict(self.machine.serialize())
+        resources = Resources.load_from_dict(
+            {
+                "number_node": 1,
+                "cpu_per_node": 1,
+                "gpu_per_node": 0,
+                "queue_name": "?",
+                "group_size": 1,
+            }
+        )
+        task = Task(
+            command="touch times && echo 1 >> times && test $(wc -l < times) -gt 3 && echo done",
+            task_work_path="./",
+            forward_files=[],
+            backward_files=[],
+            outlog="out.txt",
+        )
+
+        submission = Submission(
+            work_base="./",
+            machine=machine,
+            resources=resources,
+            forward_common_files=[],
+            backward_common_files=[],
+            task_list=[task],
+        )
+        try:
+            submission.run_submission()
+        except RuntimeError:
+            # expected to fail, try again
+            # reinit machine to test machine recover
+            machine = Machine.load_from_dict(self.mdata)
+            resources = Resources.load_from_dict(resources.serialize())
+            task = Task.deserialize(task.serialize())
+
+            submission = Submission(
+                work_base="./",
+                machine=machine,
+                resources=resources,
+                forward_common_files=[],
+                backward_common_files=[],
+                task_list=[task],
+            )
+            submission.run_submission()
+
     def test_download(self):
         self.context.download(self.__class__.submission)