diff --git a/roles/openqa/server/tasks/main.yml b/roles/openqa/server/tasks/main.yml
index b7135a123b..98de430909 100644
--- a/roles/openqa/server/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/openqa/server/tasks/main.yml
@@ -126,9 +126,14 @@
   changed_when: "1 != 1"
   always_run: true
 
+# createhdds is kinda fragile and failure is not really fatal on an
+# existing deployment (just means we have an outdated disk image), so
+# we ignore_errors so the rest of the playbook will complete even if
+# it fails
 - name: Create hard disk images (this may take a long time!)
   command: "/etc/cron.daily/createhdds"
   when: "diskcheck.rc > 0"
+  ignore_errors: yes
 
 - name: Create exports file
   copy: src=exports dest=/etc/exports.d/openqa.exports owner=root group=root mode=0644