diff --git a/test-utils/src/dev/db.rs b/test-utils/src/dev/db.rs
index 88361210bfa..47291062a31 100644
--- a/test-utils/src/dev/db.rs
+++ b/test-utils/src/dev/db.rs
@@ -527,14 +527,17 @@ impl CockroachInstance {
      */
     pub async fn cleanup(&mut self) -> Result<(), anyhow::Error> {
         /*
-         * Kill the process and wait for it to exit so that we can remove the
+         * SIGTERM the process and wait for it to exit so that we can remove the
          * temporary directory that we may have used to store its data.  We
          * don't care what the result of the process was.
          */
         if let Some(child_process) = self.child_process.as_mut() {
-            child_process
-                .start_kill()
-                .context("sending SIGKILL to child process")?;
+            let pid = child_process.id().expect("Missing child PID") as i32;
+            let success =
+                0 == unsafe { libc::kill(pid as libc::pid_t, libc::SIGTERM) };
+            if !success {
+                anyhow!("Failed to send SIGTERM to DB");
+            }
             child_process.wait().await.context("waiting for child process")?;
             self.child_process = None;
         }
diff --git a/test-utils/src/dev/mod.rs b/test-utils/src/dev/mod.rs
index 7749ed1ce70..efb9b7df437 100644
--- a/test-utils/src/dev/mod.rs
+++ b/test-utils/src/dev/mod.rs
@@ -102,6 +102,18 @@ pub async fn test_setup_database_seed(log: &Logger) {
     std::fs::create_dir_all(&dir).unwrap();
     let mut db = setup_database(log, Some(&dir), StorageSource::Populate).await;
     db.cleanup().await.unwrap();
+
+    // See https://github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/issues/74231 for context on
+    // this. We use this assertion to check that our seed directory won't point
+    // back to itself, even if it is copied elsewhere.
+    assert_eq!(
+        0,
+        dir.join("temp-dirs-record.txt")
+            .metadata()
+            .expect("Cannot access metadata")
+            .len(),
+        "Temporary directory record should be empty after graceful shutdown",
+    );
 }
 
 /// Set up a [`db::CockroachInstance`] for running tests.
@@ -131,11 +143,12 @@ async fn setup_database(
     // If we're going to copy the storage directory from the seed,
     // it is critical we do so before starting the DB.
     if matches!(storage_source, StorageSource::CopyFromSeed) {
+        let seed = seed_dir();
         info!(&log,
             "cockroach: copying from seed directory ({}) to storage directory ({})",
-            seed_dir().to_string_lossy(), starter.store_dir().to_string_lossy(),
+            seed.to_string_lossy(), starter.store_dir().to_string_lossy(),
         );
-        copy_dir(seed_dir(), starter.store_dir())
+        copy_dir(seed, starter.store_dir())
             .expect("Cannot copy storage from seed directory");
     }