diff --git a/backend/test/backend_tests/climit_test.clj b/backend/test/backend_tests/climit_test.clj
index c0d82344ef..a7c89cb38f 100644
--- a/backend/test/backend_tests/climit_test.clj
+++ b/backend/test/backend_tests/climit_test.clj
@@ -650,18 +650,19 @@
 (t/deftest republish-writes-the-current-waiting-count
   ;; A call that never comes back keeps the count up, but if it is also the
   ;; last thing that happened nothing rewrites that series and it goes stale in
-  ;; the scrape. The republish is what keeps it visible.
-  (th/with-climit [climit {:test-republish/by-profile {:permits 1 :timeout 3000}}]
-    (let [name (limiter-name :test-republish/by-profile)]
+  ;; the scrape. The republish is what keeps it visible. The counters are built
+  ;; on their own: with a component, its sampler would also publish the same
+  ;; count the moment its first tick lands inside the window.
+  (let [counters (#'climit/create-waiting-counters)
+        name     (limiter-name :test-republish/by-profile)
+        counter  ^java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicLong (#'climit/waiting-counter counters name)]
 
-      (.set ^java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicLong
-       (#'climit/waiting-counter (:counters climit) name)
-            3)
+    (.set counter 3)
 
-      (record-metrics
-       (fn []
-         (#'climit/republish-waiting (th/metrics-stub) (:counters climit))
-         (t/is (= [3] (waiting-value-of name))))))))
+    (record-metrics
+     (fn []
+       (#'climit/republish-waiting (th/metrics-stub) counters)
+       (t/is (= [3] (waiting-value-of name)))))))
 
 (t/deftest halting-the-component-stops-the-republisher
   ;; The republisher is a daemon thread started with the component: halting it
diff --git a/backend/test/backend_tests/restore_storage_objects_test.clj b/backend/test/backend_tests/restore_storage_objects_test.clj
index 5545270648..5986170b20 100644
--- a/backend/test/backend_tests/restore_storage_objects_test.clj
+++ b/backend/test/backend_tests/restore_storage_objects_test.clj
@@ -24,11 +24,14 @@
 ;; hits the foreign key and skips them forever.
 
 (defn- put-object!
-  [bucket]
-  (sto/put-object! (::sto/storage th/*system*)
-                   {::sto/content (sto/content "sobject")
-                    :content-type "text/plain"
-                    :bucket bucket}))
+  ([bucket]
+   (put-object! bucket {}))
+  ([bucket metadata]
+   (sto/put-object! (::sto/storage th/*system*)
+                    (merge {::sto/content (sto/content "sobject")
+                            :content-type "text/plain"
+                            :bucket bucket}
+                           metadata))))
 
 (defn- find-object
   [id]
@@ -86,8 +89,11 @@
   (let [profile  (th/create-profile* 1)
         file     (th/create-file* 1 {:profile-id (:id profile)
                                      :project-id (:default-project-id profile)})
-        sobject  (:id (put-object! "file-data"))
-        data-id  (uuid/next)]
+        data-id  (uuid/next)
+        ;; file-data objects carry the ids of their row: the GC resolves the
+        ;; reference with that pair.
+        sobject  (:id (put-object! "file-data" {:file-id (:id file)
+                                                :id data-id}))]
 
     (th/db-update! :file {:deleted-at (ct/in-past {:days 1})} {:id (:id file)})
     (th/db-insert! :file-data