diff --git a/HISTORY.md b/HISTORY.md
index 4da23b8af..ed7eb1898 100644
--- a/HISTORY.md
+++ b/HISTORY.md
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 # Rocksdb Change Log
 ## Unreleased
 ### Public API Change
+* `BackupableDBOptions::max_valid_backups_to_open == 0` now means no backups will be opened during BackupEngine initialization. Previously this condition disabled limiting backups opened.
+
 ### New Features
 ### Bug Fixes
 
diff --git a/include/rocksdb/utilities/backupable_db.h b/include/rocksdb/utilities/backupable_db.h
index fc2b6ba43..150b00732 100644
--- a/include/rocksdb/utilities/backupable_db.h
+++ b/include/rocksdb/utilities/backupable_db.h
@@ -109,8 +109,8 @@ struct BackupableDBOptions {
   uint64_t callback_trigger_interval_size;
 
   // When Open() is called, it will open at most this many of the latest
-  // non-corrupted backups. If 0, it will open all available backups.
-  // Default: 0
+  // non-corrupted backups.
+  // Default: INT_MAX
   int max_valid_backups_to_open;
 
   void Dump(Logger* logger) const;
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ struct BackupableDBOptions {
       bool _backup_log_files = true, uint64_t _backup_rate_limit = 0,
       uint64_t _restore_rate_limit = 0, int _max_background_operations = 1,
       uint64_t _callback_trigger_interval_size = 4 * 1024 * 1024,
-      int _max_valid_backups_to_open = 0)
+      int _max_valid_backups_to_open = INT_MAX)
       : backup_dir(_backup_dir),
         backup_env(_backup_env),
         share_table_files(_share_table_files),
diff --git a/utilities/backupable/backupable_db.cc b/utilities/backupable/backupable_db.cc
index e2464b96c..eb40a5a19 100644
--- a/utilities/backupable/backupable_db.cc
+++ b/utilities/backupable/backupable_db.cc
@@ -617,19 +617,18 @@ Status BackupEngineImpl::Initialize() {
     }
     // load the backups if any, until valid_backups_to_open of the latest
     // non-corrupted backups have been successfully opened.
-    int valid_backups_to_open;
-    if (options_.max_valid_backups_to_open == 0) {
-      valid_backups_to_open = INT_MAX;
-    } else {
-      valid_backups_to_open = options_.max_valid_backups_to_open;
-    }
+    int valid_backups_to_open = options_.max_valid_backups_to_open;
     for (auto backup_iter = backups_.rbegin();
-         backup_iter != backups_.rend() && valid_backups_to_open > 0;
+         backup_iter != backups_.rend();
          ++backup_iter) {
       assert(latest_backup_id_ == 0 || latest_backup_id_ > backup_iter->first);
       if (latest_backup_id_ == 0) {
         latest_backup_id_ = backup_iter->first;
       }
+      if (valid_backups_to_open == 0) {
+        break;
+      }
+
       InsertPathnameToSizeBytes(
           GetAbsolutePath(GetPrivateFileRel(backup_iter->first)), backup_env_,
           &abs_path_to_size);
diff --git a/utilities/backupable/backupable_db_test.cc b/utilities/backupable/backupable_db_test.cc
index 01d7667a3..7a30e4ec3 100644
--- a/utilities/backupable/backupable_db_test.cc
+++ b/utilities/backupable/backupable_db_test.cc
@@ -1547,6 +1547,34 @@ TEST_F(BackupableDBTest, CreateWhenLatestBackupCorrupted) {
   ASSERT_EQ(1, backup_infos.size());
   ASSERT_EQ(2, backup_infos[0].backup_id);
 }
+
+TEST_F(BackupableDBTest, WriteOnlyEngine) {
+  // Verify we can open a backup engine and create new ones even if reading old
+  // backups would fail with IOError. IOError is a more serious condition than
+  // corruption and would cause the engine to fail opening. So the only way to
+  // avoid is by not reading old backups at all, i.e., respecting
+  // `max_valid_backups_to_open == 0`.
+  const int kNumKeys = 5000;
+  OpenDBAndBackupEngine(true /* destroy_old_data */);
+  FillDB(db_.get(), 0 /* from */, kNumKeys);
+  ASSERT_OK(backup_engine_->CreateNewBackup(db_.get(), true));
+  CloseDBAndBackupEngine();
+
+  backupable_options_->max_valid_backups_to_open = 0;
+  // cause any meta-file reads to fail with IOError during Open
+  test_backup_env_->SetDummySequentialFile(true);
+  test_backup_env_->SetDummySequentialFileFailReads(true);
+  OpenDBAndBackupEngine();
+  test_backup_env_->SetDummySequentialFileFailReads(false);
+  test_backup_env_->SetDummySequentialFile(false);
+
+  ASSERT_OK(backup_engine_->CreateNewBackup(db_.get(), true));
+  std::vector<BackupInfo> backup_infos;
+  backup_engine_->GetBackupInfo(&backup_infos);
+  ASSERT_EQ(1, backup_infos.size());
+  ASSERT_EQ(2, backup_infos[0].backup_id);
+}
+
 }  // anon namespace
 
 } //  namespace rocksdb