diff --git a/backend/StoredFile.php b/backend/StoredFile.php
index b5eb78c96..215c17afa 100644
--- a/backend/StoredFile.php
+++ b/backend/StoredFile.php
@@ -432,8 +432,17 @@ class StoredFile {
         if (empty($this->gunid)) {
             $this->gunid = StoredFile::generateGunid();
         }
-        $this->exists = is_file($this->filepath) && is_readable($this->filepath);
-        $this->md = $this->loadMetadata();
+        else {
+          $this->md = $this->loadMetadata();
+          $this->exists = is_file($this->filepath) && is_readable($this->filepath);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * For testing only, do not use.
+     */
+    public function __setGunid($p_guid) {
+      $this->gunid = $p_guid;
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/backend/tests/StoredFileTests.php b/backend/tests/StoredFileTests.php
index 327825c76..322b94aab 100644
--- a/backend/tests/StoredFileTests.php
+++ b/backend/tests/StoredFileTests.php
@@ -62,8 +62,16 @@ class StoredFileTest extends PHPUnit_TestCase {
             $this->fail("StoredFile not created correctly. id = ".$id);
             return;
         }
-    }
 
+        $f = new StoredFile();
+        $f->__setGunid($storedFile->getGunid());
+        $f->loadMetadata();
+        if (!is_array($md = $f->getMetadata())) {
+          $this->fail("Unable to load metadata.");
+          return;
+        }
+        //var_dump($md);
+    }
 
 }
 ?>
\ No newline at end of file