diff --git a/Services/BackupEngine.swift b/Services/BackupEngine.swift
index 32b3616..5902b00 100644
--- a/Services/BackupEngine.swift
+++ b/Services/BackupEngine.swift
@@ -366,7 +366,18 @@ final class BackupEngine: ObservableObject {
 
         signposter.endInterval("UploadLoop", spUpload, "\(uploaded) uploaded, \(failed) failed")
 
-        // Keep directoryCount current without a full rescan.
+        // Update local manifest cache immediately with every completed entry
+        // (uploaded + collision-skipped + fileExists-skipped).
+        // writeManifest() will persist this to the NAS, but even if that network
+        // write fails the next fast-path reconcile reads the correct counts here.
+        // Without this, a failed NAS write leaves the cache at 1 entry and the
+        // next reconcile computes alreadySafe = 1 instead of the real count.
+        if !manifestEntries.isEmpty {
+            var localMerged = baseManifest
+            localMerged.merge(entries: manifestEntries)
+            await NASManifestCache.shared.update(localMerged)
+            logger.info("Local cache updated — \(localMerged.entries.count) total entries")
+        }
         if uploaded > 0 {
             await NASManifestCache.shared.addToDirectoryCount(uploaded)
         }
diff --git a/Services/BackupStatusService.swift b/Services/BackupStatusService.swift
index 6178193..54cb897 100644
--- a/Services/BackupStatusService.swift
+++ b/Services/BackupStatusService.swift
@@ -432,11 +432,13 @@ final class BackupStatusService: NSObject, ObservableObject {
 
             guard let (encoded, mergedManifest) = result else { return }
 
-            try await transfer.writeData(encoded, to: manifestPath)
-
-            // Update local cache so fast-path reconcile reads fresh data.
+            // Update local cache BEFORE the NAS write — decouples reconcile correctness
+            // from NAS write success. If the write fails/times out, the next fast-path
+            // reconcile still reads the correct merged manifest from local cache.
             await NASManifestCache.shared.update(mergedManifest)
             lastManifest = mergedManifest
+
+            try await transfer.writeData(encoded, to: manifestPath)
             log.info("writeManifest: done — \(entries.count) new, total=\(mergedManifest.entries.count)")
         } catch {
             log.error("writeManifest failed (non-fatal): \(error.localizedDescription)")