diff --git a/cmd/restic/cmd_init_integration_test.go b/cmd/restic/cmd_init_integration_test.go
index d2e96a613..2bfd9c7fb 100644
--- a/cmd/restic/cmd_init_integration_test.go
+++ b/cmd/restic/cmd_init_integration_test.go
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ func testRunInit(t testing.TB, gopts global.Options) {
 
 	// create temporary junk files to verify that restic does not trip over them
 	for _, path := range []string{"index", "snapshots", "keys", "locks", filepath.Join("data", "00")} {
+		rtest.OK(t, os.MkdirAll(filepath.Join(gopts.Repo, path), 0700))
 		rtest.OK(t, os.WriteFile(filepath.Join(gopts.Repo, path, "tmp12345"), []byte("junk file"), 0o600))
 	}
 }
diff --git a/cmd/restic/integration_helpers_test.go b/cmd/restic/integration_helpers_test.go
index 614fa916f..54ad884d6 100644
--- a/cmd/restic/integration_helpers_test.go
+++ b/cmd/restic/integration_helpers_test.go
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/restic/restic/internal/backend"
 	"github.com/restic/restic/internal/backend/all"
+	"github.com/restic/restic/internal/backend/layout"
 	"github.com/restic/restic/internal/backend/retry"
 	"github.com/restic/restic/internal/data"
 	"github.com/restic/restic/internal/errors"
@@ -192,6 +193,7 @@ func withTestEnvironment(t testing.TB) (env *testEnvironment, cleanup func()) {
 	repository.TestUseLowSecurityKDFParameters(t)
 	restic.TestDisableCheckPolynomial(t)
 	retry.TestFastRetries(t)
+	layout.TestDisablePackSubdirs(t)
 
 	tempdir, err := os.MkdirTemp(rtest.TestTempDir, "restic-test-")
 	rtest.OK(t, err)
diff --git a/internal/backend/layout/layout_default.go b/internal/backend/layout/layout_default.go
index d2c4634d3..6566da5a7 100644
--- a/internal/backend/layout/layout_default.go
+++ b/internal/backend/layout/layout_default.go
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@ import (
 	"github.com/restic/restic/internal/backend"
 )
 
+// disablePackSubdirs is used to disable the creation of pack subdirectories.
+// Only used for testing.
+var disablePackSubdirs = false
+
 // DefaultLayout implements the default layout for local and sftp backends, as
 // described in the Design document. The `data` directory has one level of
 // subdirs, two characters each (taken from the first two characters of the
@@ -66,10 +70,12 @@ func (l *DefaultLayout) Paths() (dirs []string) {
 		dirs = append(dirs, l.join(l.path, p))
 	}
 
-	// also add subdirs
-	for i := 0; i < 256; i++ {
-		subdir := hex.EncodeToString([]byte{byte(i)})
-		dirs = append(dirs, l.join(l.path, defaultLayoutPaths[backend.PackFile], subdir))
+	if !disablePackSubdirs {
+		// also add subdirs
+		for i := 0; i < 256; i++ {
+			subdir := hex.EncodeToString([]byte{byte(i)})
+			dirs = append(dirs, l.join(l.path, defaultLayoutPaths[backend.PackFile], subdir))
+		}
 	}
 
 	return dirs
diff --git a/internal/backend/layout/testing.go b/internal/backend/layout/testing.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c69932776
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/backend/layout/testing.go
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+package layout
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestDisablePackSubdirs(t testing.TB) {
+	disablePackSubdirs = true
+}