diff --git a/backend/daemon/storage/migrations.go b/backend/daemon/storage/migrations.go
index c8da766cb..bd7dc6745 100644
--- a/backend/daemon/storage/migrations.go
+++ b/backend/daemon/storage/migrations.go
@@ -362,6 +362,12 @@ var migrations = []migration{
 			DELETE FROM kv WHERE key = 'last_reindex_time';
 		`))
 	}},
+	{Version: "2024-03-01.03", Run: func(_ *Dir, conn *sqlite.Conn) error {
+		return sqlitex.ExecScript(conn, sqlfmt(`
+			CREATE INDEX blobs_metadata ON blobs (id, multihash, codec, size, insert_time);
+			CREATE INDEX blobs_metadata_by_hash ON blobs (multihash, codec, size, insert_time);
+		`))
+	}},
 }
 
 const (
diff --git a/backend/daemon/storage/schema.gensum b/backend/daemon/storage/schema.gensum
index eb9e3d4ef..16ac5085b 100644
--- a/backend/daemon/storage/schema.gensum
+++ b/backend/daemon/storage/schema.gensum
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
-srcs: d768fdb89d3eb5d4bee55227ac36c42d
+srcs: 31b832ee95aa3ac2dba0877815c96e4e
 outs: 6e8f9aaea92a324bcd6776afeaa0230c
diff --git a/backend/daemon/storage/schema.sql b/backend/daemon/storage/schema.sql
index c6a51681b..620562891 100644
--- a/backend/daemon/storage/schema.sql
+++ b/backend/daemon/storage/schema.sql
@@ -35,6 +35,12 @@ CREATE TABLE blobs (
     insert_time INTEGER DEFAULT (strftime('%s', 'now')) NOT NULL
 );
 
+-- Index for better data locality when we need to iterate over blobs without their data.
+-- Without the index loading the entire list of blobs into memory takes forever,
+-- because SQLite has to read way too many pages skipping the actual blob data.
+CREATE INDEX blobs_metadata ON blobs (id, multihash, codec, size, insert_time);
+CREATE INDEX blobs_metadata_by_hash ON blobs (multihash, codec, size, insert_time);
+
 -- Stores some relevant attributes for structural blobs,
 -- which are those blobs that we can understand more deeply than just an opaque blob.
 CREATE TABLE structural_blobs (
diff --git a/backend/hyper/blockstore_test.go b/backend/hyper/blockstore_test.go
index 7118394fb..19fd66de0 100644
--- a/backend/hyper/blockstore_test.go
+++ b/backend/hyper/blockstore_test.go
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ import (
 	format "github.com/ipfs/go-ipld-format"
 	"github.com/multiformats/go-multihash"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+	"golang.org/x/exp/slices"
 )
 
 func TestGet(t *testing.T) {
@@ -154,12 +155,12 @@ func TestAllKeysRespectsContext(t *testing.T) {
 
 	// consume 2, then cancel context.
 	v, ok := <-ch
-	require.Equal(t, keys[0], v)
 	require.True(t, ok)
+	require.True(t, slices.Contains(keys, v))
 
 	v, ok = <-ch
-	require.Equal(t, keys[1], v)
 	require.True(t, ok)
+	require.True(t, slices.Contains(keys, v))
 
 	cancel()
 
diff --git a/backend/hyper/hypersql/queries.gen.go b/backend/hyper/hypersql/queries.gen.go
index 429557520..2835a7975 100644
--- a/backend/hyper/hypersql/queries.gen.go
+++ b/backend/hyper/hypersql/queries.gen.go
@@ -196,7 +196,10 @@ type BlobsListKnownResult struct {
 func BlobsListKnown(conn *sqlite.Conn) ([]BlobsListKnownResult, error) {
 	const query = `SELECT blobs.id, blobs.multihash, blobs.codec
 FROM blobs
-WHERE blobs.size >= 0`
+LEFT JOIN drafts ON drafts.blob = blobs.id
+WHERE blobs.size >= 0
+AND drafts.blob IS NULL
+ORDER BY blobs.id`
 
 	var out []BlobsListKnownResult
 
diff --git a/backend/hyper/hypersql/queries.gensum b/backend/hyper/hypersql/queries.gensum
index eae7c003d..041a16c7d 100644
--- a/backend/hyper/hypersql/queries.gensum
+++ b/backend/hyper/hypersql/queries.gensum
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
-srcs: 710260753f9d777d05b98094175d347d
-outs: 9427f9db7ecb4403869c9cd98100e1cc
+srcs: 800af070fac742f44f90f3142c9ffcdd
+outs: ed8e2acc2115513302d723aab1d251e1
diff --git a/backend/hyper/hypersql/queries.go b/backend/hyper/hypersql/queries.go
index 48cb88d54..0d9f5b9d0 100644
--- a/backend/hyper/hypersql/queries.go
+++ b/backend/hyper/hypersql/queries.go
@@ -67,7 +67,10 @@ func generateQueries() error {
 				s.BlobsCodec,
 			), '\n',
 			"FROM", s.Blobs, '\n',
-			"WHERE", s.BlobsSize, ">=", "0",
+			"LEFT JOIN", s.Drafts, "ON", s.DraftsBlob, "=", s.BlobsID, '\n',
+			"WHERE", s.BlobsSize, ">=", "0", '\n',
+			"AND", s.DraftsBlob, "IS NULL", '\n',
+			"ORDER BY", s.BlobsID,
 		),
 
 		qb.MakeQuery(s.Schema, "BlobLinksInsertOrIgnore", sgen.QueryKindExec,