diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/blobstore/BlobContainer.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/blobstore/BlobContainer.java
index 1427f34a642a7..a04c75941e7b6 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/blobstore/BlobContainer.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/blobstore/BlobContainer.java
@@ -105,8 +105,11 @@ public interface BlobContainer {
     Map<String, BlobMetaData> listBlobsByPrefix(String blobNamePrefix) throws IOException;
 
     /**
-     * Atomically renames the source blob into the target blob.  If the source blob does not exist or the
-     * target blob already exists, an exception is thrown.
+     * Renames the source blob into the target blob.  If the source blob does not exist or the
+     * target blob already exists, an exception is thrown.  Atomicity of the move operation
+     * can only be guaranteed on an implementation-by-implementation basis.  The only current
+     * implementation of {@link BlobContainer} for which atomicity can be guaranteed is the
+     * {@link org.elasticsearch.common.blobstore.fs.FsBlobContainer}.
      *
      * @param   sourceBlobName
      *          The blob to rename.
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/blobstore/BlobStoreRepository.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/blobstore/BlobStoreRepository.java
index a1bad51626c19..3db9d4340ef93 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/blobstore/BlobStoreRepository.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/blobstore/BlobStoreRepository.java
@@ -867,15 +867,17 @@ private long listBlobsToGetLatestIndexId() throws IOException {
     }
 
     private void writeAtomic(final String blobName, final BytesReference bytesRef) throws IOException {
-        final String tempBlobName = "pending-" + blobName;
+        final String tempBlobName = "pending-" + blobName + "-" + UUIDs.randomBase64UUID();
         try (InputStream stream = bytesRef.streamInput()) {
             snapshotsBlobContainer.writeBlob(tempBlobName, stream, bytesRef.length());
-        }
-        try {
             snapshotsBlobContainer.move(tempBlobName, blobName);
         } catch (IOException ex) {
-            // Move failed - try cleaning up
-            snapshotsBlobContainer.deleteBlob(tempBlobName);
+            // temporary blob creation or move failed - try cleaning up
+            try {
+                snapshotsBlobContainer.deleteBlob(tempBlobName);
+            } catch (IOException e) {
+                ex.addSuppressed(e);
+            }
             throw ex;
         }
     }
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/snapshots/SharedClusterSnapshotRestoreIT.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/snapshots/SharedClusterSnapshotRestoreIT.java
index 657e5bbf0180b..c3686c0b98395 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/snapshots/SharedClusterSnapshotRestoreIT.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/snapshots/SharedClusterSnapshotRestoreIT.java
@@ -2592,4 +2592,53 @@ public void testGetSnapshotsRequest() throws Exception {
         waitForCompletion(repositoryName, inProgressSnapshot, TimeValue.timeValueSeconds(60));
     }
 
+    public void testSnapshotSucceedsAfterSnapshotFailure() throws Exception {
+        logger.info("--> creating repository");
+        final Path repoPath = randomRepoPath();
+        assertAcked(client().admin().cluster().preparePutRepository("test-repo").setType("mock").setVerify(false).setSettings(
+                Settings.builder().put("location", repoPath).put("random_control_io_exception_rate", randomIntBetween(5, 20) / 100f)));
+
+        logger.info("--> indexing some data");
+        createIndex("test-idx");
+        ensureGreen();
+        final int numDocs = randomIntBetween(1, 5);
+        for (int i = 0; i < numDocs; i++) {
+            index("test-idx", "doc", Integer.toString(i), "foo", "bar" + i);
+        }
+        refresh();
+        assertThat(client().prepareSearch("test-idx").setSize(0).get().getHits().totalHits(), equalTo((long) numDocs));
+
+        logger.info("--> snapshot with potential I/O failures");
+        try {
+            CreateSnapshotResponse createSnapshotResponse =
+                client().admin().cluster().prepareCreateSnapshot("test-repo", "test-snap")
+                    .setWaitForCompletion(true)
+                    .setIndices("test-idx")
+                    .get();
+            if (createSnapshotResponse.getSnapshotInfo().totalShards() != createSnapshotResponse.getSnapshotInfo().successfulShards()) {
+                assertThat(getFailureCount("test-repo"), greaterThan(0L));
+                assertThat(createSnapshotResponse.getSnapshotInfo().shardFailures().size(), greaterThan(0));
+                for (SnapshotShardFailure shardFailure : createSnapshotResponse.getSnapshotInfo().shardFailures()) {
+                    assertThat(shardFailure.reason(), containsString("Random IOException"));
+                }
+            }
+        } catch (Exception ex) {
+            // sometimes, the snapshot will fail with a top level I/O exception
+            assertThat(ExceptionsHelper.stackTrace(ex), containsString("Random IOException"));
+        }
+
+        logger.info("--> snapshot with no I/O failures");
+        assertAcked(client().admin().cluster().preparePutRepository("test-repo-2").setType("mock").setVerify(false).setSettings(
+            Settings.builder().put("location", repoPath)));
+        CreateSnapshotResponse createSnapshotResponse =
+            client().admin().cluster().prepareCreateSnapshot("test-repo-2", "test-snap-2")
+                .setWaitForCompletion(true)
+                .setIndices("test-idx")
+                .get();
+        assertEquals(0, createSnapshotResponse.getSnapshotInfo().failedShards());
+        GetSnapshotsResponse getSnapshotsResponse = client().admin().cluster().prepareGetSnapshots("test-repo-2")
+                                                        .addSnapshots("test-snap-2").get();
+        assertEquals(SnapshotState.SUCCESS, getSnapshotsResponse.getSnapshots().get(0).state());
+    }
+
 }
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/snapshots/mockstore/MockRepository.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/snapshots/mockstore/MockRepository.java
index 06c4ec10af056..ae2070d9ce371 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/snapshots/mockstore/MockRepository.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/snapshots/mockstore/MockRepository.java
@@ -313,14 +313,20 @@ public Map<String, BlobMetaData> listBlobsByPrefix(String blobNamePrefix) throws
 
             @Override
             public void move(String sourceBlob, String targetBlob) throws IOException {
+                // simulate a non-atomic move, since many blob container implementations
+                // will not have an atomic move, and we should be able to handle that
                 maybeIOExceptionOrBlock(targetBlob);
-                super.move(sourceBlob, targetBlob);
+                super.writeBlob(targetBlob, super.readBlob(sourceBlob), 0L);
+                super.deleteBlob(sourceBlob);
             }
 
             @Override
             public void writeBlob(String blobName, InputStream inputStream, long blobSize) throws IOException {
                 maybeIOExceptionOrBlock(blobName);
                 super.writeBlob(blobName, inputStream, blobSize);
+                // for network based repositories, the blob may have been written but we may still
+                // get an error with the client connection, so an IOException here simulates this
+                maybeIOExceptionOrBlock(blobName);
             }
         }
     }