diff --git a/server/src/main.rs b/server/src/main.rs
index 954ed6ddd..f0a1d087c 100644
--- a/server/src/main.rs
+++ b/server/src/main.rs
@@ -55,9 +55,9 @@ use crate::localcache::LocalCacheManager;
 async fn main() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
     env_logger::init();
     let storage = CONFIG.storage().get_object_store();
+    CONFIG.validate().await?;
     migration::run_metadata_migration(&CONFIG).await?;
     let metadata = storage::resolve_parseable_metadata().await?;
-    CONFIG.validate_staging()?;
     banner::print(&CONFIG, &metadata).await;
     rbac::map::init(&metadata);
     metadata.set_global();
diff --git a/server/src/migration.rs b/server/src/migration.rs
index 899d86eae..5484e84c3 100644
--- a/server/src/migration.rs
+++ b/server/src/migration.rs
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ use crate::{
     storage::{ObjectStorage, ObjectStorageError},
 };
 
+/// Migrate the metdata from v1 or v2 to v3
+/// This is a one time migration
 pub async fn run_metadata_migration(config: &Config) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
     let object_store = config.storage().get_object_store();
     let storage_metadata = get_storage_metadata(&*object_store).await?;
diff --git a/server/src/option.rs b/server/src/option.rs
index 8b3983170..50dab8878 100644
--- a/server/src/option.rs
+++ b/server/src/option.rs
@@ -27,8 +27,7 @@ use std::sync::Arc;
 use url::Url;
 
 use crate::oidc::{self, OpenidConfig};
-use crate::storage::{FSConfig, ObjectStorageProvider, S3Config};
-use crate::utils::validate_path_is_writeable;
+use crate::storage::{FSConfig, ObjectStorageError, ObjectStorageProvider, S3Config};
 
 pub const MIN_CACHE_SIZE_BYTES: u64 = 1000u64.pow(3); // 1 GiB
 
@@ -99,9 +98,36 @@ impl Config {
         }
     }
 
-    pub fn validate_staging(&self) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
-        let staging_path = self.staging_dir();
-        validate_path_is_writeable(staging_path)
+    pub async fn validate(&self) -> Result<(), ObjectStorageError> {
+        let obj_store = self.storage.get_object_store();
+        let rel_path = relative_path::RelativePathBuf::from(".parseable.json");
+
+        let has_parseable_json = obj_store.get_object(&rel_path).await.is_ok();
+
+        let has_dirs = match obj_store.list_dirs_in_storage().await {
+            Ok(dirs) => !dirs.is_empty(),
+            Err(_) => false,
+        };
+
+        let has_streams = obj_store.list_streams().await.is_ok();
+
+        if !has_dirs || has_parseable_json && has_streams {
+            Ok(())
+        } else if has_parseable_json && !has_streams {
+            Err(ObjectStorageError::Custom(
+                "Could not start the server because storage contains stale data from previous deployment, please choose an empty storage and restart the server.\nJoin us on Parseable Slack to report this incident : launchpass.com/parseable"
+                .to_owned(),
+            ))
+        } else if !has_parseable_json && !has_streams && has_dirs {
+            Err(ObjectStorageError::Custom(
+                "Could not start the server because storage contains some stale data, please provide an empty storage and restart the server.\nJoin us on Parseable Slack to report this incident : launchpass.com/parseable".to_owned(),
+            ))
+        } else {
+            Err(ObjectStorageError::Custom(
+                "Could not start the server because storage contains stale data from previous deployment.\nJoin us on Parseable Slack to report this incident : launchpass.com/parseable"
+                .to_owned()
+            ))
+        }
     }
 
     pub fn storage(&self) -> Arc<dyn ObjectStorageProvider + Send + Sync> {
diff --git a/server/src/storage/localfs.rs b/server/src/storage/localfs.rs
index df88499a9..fad4538ea 100644
--- a/server/src/storage/localfs.rs
+++ b/server/src/storage/localfs.rs
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ use tokio::fs::{self, DirEntry};
 use tokio_stream::wrappers::ReadDirStream;
 
 use crate::metrics::storage::{localfs::REQUEST_RESPONSE_TIME, StorageMetrics};
-use crate::{option::validation, utils::validate_path_is_writeable};
+use crate::option::validation;
 
 use super::{object_storage, LogStream, ObjectStorage, ObjectStorageError, ObjectStorageProvider};
 
@@ -139,8 +139,8 @@ impl ObjectStorage for LocalFS {
     }
 
     async fn check(&self) -> Result<(), ObjectStorageError> {
-        fs::create_dir_all(&self.root).await?;
-        validate_path_is_writeable(&self.root)
+        fs::create_dir_all(&self.root)
+            .await
             .map_err(|e| ObjectStorageError::UnhandledError(e.into()))
     }
 
@@ -169,6 +169,23 @@ impl ObjectStorage for LocalFS {
         Ok(logstreams)
     }
 
+    async fn list_dirs_in_storage(&self) -> Result<Vec<String>, ObjectStorageError> {
+        let dirs = ReadDirStream::new(fs::read_dir(&self.root).await?)
+            .try_collect::<Vec<DirEntry>>()
+            .await?
+            .into_iter()
+            .map(dir_name);
+
+        let dirs = FuturesUnordered::from_iter(dirs)
+            .try_collect::<Vec<_>>()
+            .await?
+            .into_iter()
+            .flatten()
+            .collect::<Vec<_>>();
+
+        Ok(dirs)
+    }
+
     async fn list_dates(&self, stream_name: &str) -> Result<Vec<String>, ObjectStorageError> {
         let path = self.root.join(stream_name);
         let directories = ReadDirStream::new(fs::read_dir(&path).await?);
diff --git a/server/src/storage/object_storage.rs b/server/src/storage/object_storage.rs
index be4b1c1c6..cd0051345 100644
--- a/server/src/storage/object_storage.rs
+++ b/server/src/storage/object_storage.rs
@@ -75,6 +75,7 @@ pub trait ObjectStorage: Sync + 'static {
     async fn check(&self) -> Result<(), ObjectStorageError>;
     async fn delete_stream(&self, stream_name: &str) -> Result<(), ObjectStorageError>;
     async fn list_streams(&self) -> Result<Vec<LogStream>, ObjectStorageError>;
+    async fn list_dirs_in_storage(&self) -> Result<Vec<String>, ObjectStorageError>;
     async fn list_dates(&self, stream_name: &str) -> Result<Vec<String>, ObjectStorageError>;
     async fn upload_file(&self, key: &str, path: &Path) -> Result<(), ObjectStorageError>;
 
diff --git a/server/src/storage/s3.rs b/server/src/storage/s3.rs
index af171bfae..dbd7dc915 100644
--- a/server/src/storage/s3.rs
+++ b/server/src/storage/s3.rs
@@ -470,6 +470,18 @@ impl ObjectStorage for S3 {
     fn store_url(&self) -> url::Url {
         url::Url::parse(&format!("s3://{}", self.bucket)).unwrap()
     }
+
+    async fn list_dirs_in_storage(&self) -> Result<Vec<String>, ObjectStorageError> {
+        let pre = object_store::path::Path::from("/");
+        let resp = self.client.list_with_delimiter(Some(&pre)).await?;
+
+        Ok(resp
+            .common_prefixes
+            .iter()
+            .flat_map(|path| path.parts())
+            .map(|name| name.as_ref().to_string())
+            .collect::<Vec<_>>())
+    }
 }
 
 impl From<object_store::Error> for ObjectStorageError {
diff --git a/server/src/storage/store_metadata.rs b/server/src/storage/store_metadata.rs
index 0e9ad955f..137cf1e24 100644
--- a/server/src/storage/store_metadata.rs
+++ b/server/src/storage/store_metadata.rs
@@ -92,8 +92,8 @@ impl StorageMetadata {
     }
 }
 
-// always returns remote metadata as it is source of truth
-// overwrites staging metadata while updating storage info
+/// always returns remote metadata as it is source of truth
+/// overwrites staging metadata while updating storage info
 pub async fn resolve_parseable_metadata() -> Result<StorageMetadata, ObjectStorageError> {
     let staging_metadata = get_staging_metadata()?;
     let storage = CONFIG.storage().get_object_store();
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ pub async fn resolve_parseable_metadata() -> Result<StorageMetadata, ObjectStora
 // variant contain remote metadata
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, PartialEq, Eq)]
 pub enum EnvChange {
-    /// No change in env i.e both staging and remote have same id  
+    /// No change in env i.e both staging and remote have same id
     /// or deployment id of staging is not matching with that of remote
     None(StorageMetadata),
     /// Metadata not found in storage. Treated as possible misconfiguration on user side.
diff --git a/server/src/utils.rs b/server/src/utils.rs
index 58f0c3eee..83af01cc6 100644
--- a/server/src/utils.rs
+++ b/server/src/utils.rs
@@ -23,8 +23,6 @@ pub mod json;
 pub mod uid;
 pub mod update;
 
-use std::path::Path;
-
 use chrono::{DateTime, NaiveDate, Timelike, Utc};
 
 #[allow(dead_code)]
@@ -43,17 +41,6 @@ pub fn capitalize_ascii(s: &str) -> String {
     s[0..1].to_uppercase() + &s[1..]
 }
 
-pub fn validate_path_is_writeable(path: &Path) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
-    let Ok(md) = std::fs::metadata(path) else {
-        anyhow::bail!("Could not read metadata for staging dir")
-    };
-    let permissions = md.permissions();
-    if permissions.readonly() {
-        anyhow::bail!("Staging directory {} is not writable", path.display())
-    }
-    Ok(())
-}
-
 /// Convert minutes to a slot range
 /// e.g. given minute = 15 and OBJECT_STORE_DATA_GRANULARITY = 10 returns "10-19"
 pub fn minute_to_slot(minute: u32, data_granularity: u32) -> Option<String> {
@@ -263,7 +250,7 @@ mod tests {
         ]
     )]
     #[case::same_hour_with_00_to_59_minute_block(
-        "2022-06-11T16:00:00+00:00", "2022-06-11T16:59:59+00:00",   
+        "2022-06-11T16:00:00+00:00", "2022-06-11T16:59:59+00:00",
         &["date=2022-06-11/hour=16/"]
     )]
     #[case::same_date_different_hours_coherent_minute(
@@ -274,14 +261,14 @@ mod tests {
         ]
     )]
     #[case::same_date_different_hours_incoherent_minutes(
-        "2022-06-11T15:59:00+00:00", "2022-06-11T16:01:00+00:00", 
+        "2022-06-11T15:59:00+00:00", "2022-06-11T16:01:00+00:00",
         &[
             "date=2022-06-11/hour=15/minute=59/",
             "date=2022-06-11/hour=16/minute=00/"
         ]
     )]
     #[case::same_date_different_hours_whole_hours_between_incoherent_minutes(
-        "2022-06-11T15:59:00+00:00", "2022-06-11T17:01:00+00:00", 
+        "2022-06-11T15:59:00+00:00", "2022-06-11T17:01:00+00:00",
         &[
             "date=2022-06-11/hour=15/minute=59/",
             "date=2022-06-11/hour=16/",
@@ -289,14 +276,14 @@ mod tests {
         ]
     )]
     #[case::different_date_coherent_hours_and_minutes(
-        "2022-06-11T00:00:00+00:00", "2022-06-13T00:00:00+00:00", 
+        "2022-06-11T00:00:00+00:00", "2022-06-13T00:00:00+00:00",
         &[
             "date=2022-06-11/",
             "date=2022-06-12/"
         ]
     )]
     #[case::different_date_incoherent_hours_coherent_minutes(
-        "2022-06-11T23:00:01+00:00", "2022-06-12T01:59:59+00:00", 
+        "2022-06-11T23:00:01+00:00", "2022-06-12T01:59:59+00:00",
         &[
             "date=2022-06-11/hour=23/",
             "date=2022-06-12/hour=00/",
@@ -304,7 +291,7 @@ mod tests {
         ]
     )]
     #[case::different_date_incoherent_hours_incoherent_minutes(
-        "2022-06-11T23:59:59+00:00", "2022-06-12T00:01:00+00:00", 
+        "2022-06-11T23:59:59+00:00", "2022-06-12T00:01:00+00:00",
         &[
             "date=2022-06-11/hour=23/minute=59/",
             "date=2022-06-12/hour=00/minute=00/"