diff --git a/ng-repo/src/errors.rs b/ng-repo/src/errors.rs
index 8f67688..d67eea5 100644
--- a/ng-repo/src/errors.rs
+++ b/ng-repo/src/errors.rs
@@ -218,6 +218,7 @@ pub enum StorageError {
     OverlayBranchNotFound,
     Abort,
     NotEmpty,
+    ServerAlreadyRunningInOtherProcess,
 }
 
 impl core::fmt::Display for StorageError {
diff --git a/ng-storage-rocksdb/src/block_storage.rs b/ng-storage-rocksdb/src/block_storage.rs
index 33d394e..66675f0 100644
--- a/ng-storage-rocksdb/src/block_storage.rs
+++ b/ng-storage-rocksdb/src/block_storage.rs
@@ -79,7 +79,14 @@ impl RocksDbBlockStorage {
         let env = Env::enc_env(key).unwrap();
         opts.set_env(&env);
         let tx_options = TransactionDBOptions::new();
-        let db: TransactionDB = TransactionDB::open(&opts, &tx_options, &path).unwrap();
+        let db: TransactionDB = TransactionDB::open(&opts, &tx_options, &path).map_err(|e| {
+            log_err!("{e}");
+            if e.into_string().starts_with("IO error: While lock file") {
+                StorageError::ServerAlreadyRunningInOtherProcess
+            } else {
+                StorageError::BackendError
+            }
+        })?;
 
         log_info!(
             "created blockstorage with Rocksdb Version: {}",
diff --git a/ng-storage-rocksdb/src/kcv_storage.rs b/ng-storage-rocksdb/src/kcv_storage.rs
index 7d9a253..b497c30 100644
--- a/ng-storage-rocksdb/src/kcv_storage.rs
+++ b/ng-storage-rocksdb/src/kcv_storage.rs
@@ -702,7 +702,14 @@ impl RocksDbKCVStorage {
         // TODO: use open_cf and choose which column family to create/ versus using set_prefix_extractor and doing prefix seek
 
         let tx_options = TransactionDBOptions::new();
-        let db: TransactionDB = TransactionDB::open(&opts, &tx_options, &path).unwrap();
+        let db: TransactionDB = TransactionDB::open(&opts, &tx_options, &path).map_err(|e| {
+            log_err!("{e}");
+            if e.into_string().starts_with("IO error: While lock file") {
+                StorageError::ServerAlreadyRunningInOtherProcess
+            } else {
+                StorageError::BackendError
+            }
+        })?;
 
         log_info!(
             "created kcv storage with Rocksdb Version: {}",