diff --git a/internal/backup/timestamp.go b/internal/backup/timestamp.go
index 5ec265b4..bed15b06 100644
--- a/internal/backup/timestamp.go
+++ b/internal/backup/timestamp.go
@@ -20,12 +20,13 @@
 package backup
 
 import (
-	"fmt"
+	"errors"
 	"net/http"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/majewsky/schwift"
+	"github.com/sapcc/go-bits/errext"
 
 	"github.com/sapcc/backup-tools/internal/core"
 )
@@ -37,14 +38,31 @@ func lastBackupTimestampObj(cfg *core.Configuration) *schwift.Object {
 // ReadLastBackupTimestamp reads the "last_backup_timestamp" object in Swift to
 // find when the most recent backup was created.
 func ReadLastBackupTimestamp(cfg *core.Configuration) (time.Time, error) {
-	str, err := lastBackupTimestampObj(cfg).Download(nil).AsString()
-	if err != nil {
-		if schwift.Is(err, http.StatusNotFound) {
-			//this branch is esp. relevant for the first ever backup -> we just report a very old last backup to force a backup immediately
-			return time.Unix(0, 0).UTC(), nil
+	var str string
+
+  // retry swift download of timestamp file up to 3 times to be more robust
+	for {
+		var (
+			err  error
+			errs errext.ErrorSet
+		)
+		str, err = lastBackupTimestampObj(cfg).Download(nil).AsString()
+		if err == nil {
+			break
+		} else {
+			if schwift.Is(err, http.StatusNotFound) {
+				//this branch is esp. relevant for the first ever backup -> we just report a very old last backup to force a backup immediately
+				return time.Unix(0, 0).UTC(), nil
+			}
+			errs.Addf("could not read last_backup_timestamp from Swift: %w", err)
+		}
+
+		time.Sleep(1 * time.Second)
+		if len(errs) == 3 {
+			return time.Time{}, errors.New(errs.Join(", "))
 		}
-		return time.Time{}, fmt.Errorf("could not read last_backup_timestamp from Swift: %w", err)
 	}
+
 	t, err := time.ParseInLocation(TimeFormat, str, time.UTC)
 	if err != nil {
 		//recover from malformed timestamp files by forcing a new backup immediately, same as above
@@ -57,9 +75,21 @@ func ReadLastBackupTimestamp(cfg *core.Configuration) (time.Time, error) {
 // to indicate that a backup was completed successfully.
 func WriteLastBackupTimestamp(cfg *core.Configuration, t time.Time) error {
 	payload := strings.NewReader(t.UTC().Format(TimeFormat))
-	err := lastBackupTimestampObj(cfg).Upload(payload, nil, nil)
-	if err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("could not write last_backup_timestamp into Swift: %w", err)
+
+  // retry swift upload of timestamp file up to 3 times to be more robust
+	for {
+		var errs errext.ErrorSet
+		err := lastBackupTimestampObj(cfg).Upload(payload, nil, nil)
+		if err == nil {
+			break
+		} else {
+			errs.Addf("could not write last_backup_timestamp into Swift: %w", err)
+		}
+
+		time.Sleep(1 * time.Second)
+		if len(errs) == 3 {
+			return errors.New(errs.Join(", "))
+		}
 	}
 	return nil
 }
diff --git a/vendor/github.com/sapcc/go-bits/errext/errext.go b/vendor/github.com/sapcc/go-bits/errext/errext.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fd6f1c58
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vendor/github.com/sapcc/go-bits/errext/errext.go
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+/*******************************************************************************
+*
+* Copyright 2023 SAP SE
+*
+* Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+* you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+* You should have received a copy of the License along with this
+* program. If not, you may obtain a copy of the License at
+*
+*     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+*
+* Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+* distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+* WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+* See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+* limitations under the License.
+*
+*******************************************************************************/
+
+// Package errext contains convenience functions for handling and propagating errors.
+package errext
+
+import "errors"
+
+// As is a variant of errors.As() that leverages generics to present a nicer interface.
+//
+//	//this code:
+//	var perr os.PathError
+//	if errors.As(err, &perr) {
+//		handle(perr)
+//	}
+//	//can be rewritten as:
+//	if perr, ok := errext.As[os.PathError](err); ok {
+//		handle(perr)
+//	}
+//
+// This is sometimes more verbose (like in this example), but allows to scope
+// the specific error variable to the condition's then-branch, and also looks
+// more idiomatic to developers already familiar with type casts.
+func As[T error](err error) (T, bool) {
+	var result T
+	ok := errors.As(err, &result)
+	return result, ok
+}
+
+// IsOfType is a variant of errors.As() that only returns whether the match succeeded.
+//
+// This function is not called Is() to avoid confusion with errors.Is(), which works differently.
+func IsOfType[T error](err error) bool {
+	_, ok := As[T](err)
+	return ok
+}
diff --git a/vendor/github.com/sapcc/go-bits/errext/errorset.go b/vendor/github.com/sapcc/go-bits/errext/errorset.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..409f532d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vendor/github.com/sapcc/go-bits/errext/errorset.go
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+/*******************************************************************************
+*
+* Copyright 2023 SAP SE
+*
+* Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+* you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+* You should have received a copy of the License along with this
+* program. If not, you may obtain a copy of the License at
+*
+*     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+*
+* Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+* distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+* WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+* See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+* limitations under the License.
+*
+*******************************************************************************/
+
+package errext
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"strings"
+
+	"github.com/sapcc/go-bits/logg"
+)
+
+// ErrorSet replaces the "error" return value in functions that can return
+// multiple errors. It provides convenience functions for easily adding errors
+// to the set.
+type ErrorSet []error
+
+// Add adds the given error to the set if it is non-nil.
+func (errs *ErrorSet) Add(err error) {
+	if err != nil {
+		*errs = append(*errs, err)
+	}
+}
+
+// Addf is a shorthand for errs.Add(fmt.Errorf(...)).
+func (errs *ErrorSet) Addf(msg string, args ...any) {
+	*errs = append(*errs, fmt.Errorf(msg, args...))
+}
+
+// Append adds all errors from the `other` ErrorSet to this one.
+func (errs *ErrorSet) Append(other ErrorSet) {
+	*errs = append(*errs, other...)
+}
+
+// IsEmpty returns true if no errors are in the set.
+func (errs ErrorSet) IsEmpty() bool {
+	return len(errs) == 0
+}
+
+// Join joins the messages of all errors in this set using the provided separator.
+// If the set is empty, an empty string is returned.
+func (errs ErrorSet) Join(sep string) string {
+	msgs := make([]string, len(errs))
+	for idx, err := range errs {
+		msgs[idx] = err.Error()
+	}
+	return strings.Join(msgs, sep)
+}
+
+// LogFatalIfError reports all errors in this set on level FATAL, thus dying if
+// there are any errors.
+func (errs ErrorSet) LogFatalIfError() {
+	hasErrors := false
+	for _, err := range errs {
+		hasErrors = true
+		logg.Other("FATAL", err.Error())
+	}
+	if hasErrors {
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/vendor/modules.txt b/vendor/modules.txt
index d41fafe0..1dbbc1f3 100644
--- a/vendor/modules.txt
+++ b/vendor/modules.txt
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@ github.com/prometheus/procfs/internal/util
 github.com/sapcc/go-api-declarations/bininfo
 # github.com/sapcc/go-bits v0.0.0-20240104033923-b834f0c87cf8
 ## explicit; go 1.21
+github.com/sapcc/go-bits/errext
 github.com/sapcc/go-bits/httpapi
 github.com/sapcc/go-bits/httpext
 github.com/sapcc/go-bits/logg