diff --git a/Project.toml b/Project.toml
index ea523b7d..352d4691 100644
--- a/Project.toml
+++ b/Project.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 name = "DistributedFactorGraphs"
 uuid = "b5cc3c7e-6572-11e9-2517-99fb8daf2f04"
-version = "0.23.7"
+version = "0.23.8"
 
 [deps]
 Base64 = "2a0f44e3-6c83-55bd-87e4-b1978d98bd5f"
diff --git a/src/DataBlobs/services/BlobStores.jl b/src/DataBlobs/services/BlobStores.jl
index 333f2561..91648894 100644
--- a/src/DataBlobs/services/BlobStores.jl
+++ b/src/DataBlobs/services/BlobStores.jl
@@ -179,17 +179,14 @@ end
 struct FolderStore{T} <: AbstractBlobStore{T}
     key::Symbol
     folder::String
-    function FolderStore{T}(key, folder) where {T}
-        if !isdir(folder)
-            @info "Folder '$folder' doesn't exist - creating."
-            # create new folder
-            mkpath(folder)
-        end
-        return new(key, folder)
-    end
 end
 
-function FolderStore(foldername::String)
+function FolderStore(foldername::String; createfolder = true)
+    if createfolder && !isdir(foldername)
+        @info "Folder '$foldername' doesn't exist - creating."
+        # create new folder
+        mkpath(foldername)
+    end
     return FolderStore{Vector{UInt8}}(:default_folder_store, foldername)
 end
 
diff --git a/src/FileDFG/services/FileDFG.jl b/src/FileDFG/services/FileDFG.jl
index 472d0827..38946d1e 100644
--- a/src/FileDFG/services/FileDFG.jl
+++ b/src/FileDFG/services/FileDFG.jl
@@ -251,5 +251,5 @@ function loadDFG(file::AbstractString)
     # cleanup temporary folder
     Base.rm(loaddir; recursive = true, force = true)
 
-    return loadDFG!(dfg, file)
+    return loadDFG!(dfg, file; overwriteDFGMetadata = false)
 end
diff --git a/src/GraphsDFG/services/GraphsDFGSerialization.jl b/src/GraphsDFG/services/GraphsDFGSerialization.jl
index ac134b8e..b1cdb84a 100644
--- a/src/GraphsDFG/services/GraphsDFGSerialization.jl
+++ b/src/GraphsDFG/services/GraphsDFGSerialization.jl
@@ -65,8 +65,19 @@ function unpackDFGMetadata(packed::PackedGraphsDFG)
     #FIXME Deprecate remove in DFG v0.24
     setdiff!(commonfields, [:blobStores])
     blobStores = Dict{Symbol, AbstractBlobStore}()
+
     !isnothing(packed.blobStores) && merge!(blobStores, packed.blobStores)
 
+    _isfolderstorepath(s) = false
+    _isfolderstorepath(s::FolderStore) = ispath(s.folder)
+    # FIXME escalate to keyword
+    for (ks, bs) in blobStores
+        if !_isfolderstorepath(bs)
+            delete!(blobStores, ks)
+            @warn("Unable to load blobstore, $ks")
+        end
+    end
+
     props = (k => getproperty(packed, k) for k in commonfields)
 
     VT = if isnothing(packed.typePackedVariable) || !packed.typePackedVariable
diff --git a/test/consol_DataEntryBlobTests.jl b/test/consol_DataEntryBlobTests.jl
index 858d322e..dba9250b 100644
--- a/test/consol_DataEntryBlobTests.jl
+++ b/test/consol_DataEntryBlobTests.jl
@@ -86,6 +86,7 @@ dataset2 = rand(UInt8, 1000)
 ##==============================================================================
 
 # Create a data store and add it to DFG
+mkdir("/tmp/dfgFolderStore")
 ds = FolderStore{Vector{UInt8}}(:filestore, "/tmp/dfgFolderStore")
 addBlobStore!(dfg, ds)