diff --git a/src/backupsites.js b/src/backupsites.js
index fad4999da..4875864c9 100644
--- a/src/backupsites.js
+++ b/src/backupsites.js
@@ -470,7 +470,7 @@ async function remount(site) {
 async function getStatus(site) {
     assert.strictEqual(typeof site, 'object');
 
-    return await storageApi(site).getStatus(site.config);
+    return await storageApi(site).getStatus(site.config); // { state, message }
 }
 
 async function ensureMounted(site) {
diff --git a/src/mounts.js b/src/mounts.js
index 68c1acadb..ab9e4b931 100644
--- a/src/mounts.js
+++ b/src/mounts.js
@@ -189,15 +189,18 @@ async function getStatus(mountType, hostPath) {
     assert.strictEqual(typeof mountType, 'string');
     assert.strictEqual(typeof hostPath, 'string');
 
-    if (mountType === exports.MOUNT_TYPE_FILESYSTEM) return { state: 'active', message: 'Mounted' };
+    if (mountType === exports.MOUNT_TYPE_FILESYSTEM) {
+        const exists = safe.fs.existsSync(hostPath);
+        return { state: exists ? 'active' : 'inactive', message: exists ? '' : `${hostPath} not found: ${safe.error.message}` };
+    }
 
     const [error] = await safe(shell.spawn('mountpoint', [ '-q', '--', hostPath ], { timeout: 5000, encoding: 'utf8' }));
     const state = error ? 'inactive' : 'active';
 
-    if (mountType === 'mountpoint') return { state, message: state === 'active' ? 'Mounted' : 'Not mounted' };
+    if (mountType === 'mountpoint') return { state, message: state === 'active' ? '' : 'Not mounted' };
 
     // we used to rely on "systemctl show -p ActiveState" output before but some mounts like sshfs.fuse show the status as "active" event though the mount commant failed (on ubuntu 18)
-    let message;
+    let message = '';
 
     if (state !== 'active') { // find why it failed
         const unitName = await shell.spawn('systemd-escape', ['-p', '--suffix=mount', hostPath], { encoding: 'utf8' });
@@ -221,8 +224,6 @@ async function getStatus(mountType, hostPath) {
             if (end !== -1) message = lines.slice(start, end+1).map(line => line['MESSAGE']).join('\n');
         }
         if (!message) message = `Could not determine mount failure reason. ${safe.error ? safe.error.message : ''}`;
-    } else {
-        message = 'Mounted';
     }
 
     return { state, message };
diff --git a/src/storage/filesystem.js b/src/storage/filesystem.js
index 109c7fbfd..f07b301d4 100644
--- a/src/storage/filesystem.js
+++ b/src/storage/filesystem.js
@@ -70,9 +70,9 @@ async function getStatus(config) {
     let hostPath;
     if (mounts.isManagedProvider(config._provider)) {
         hostPath = config._managedMountPath;
-    } else if (config._provider === 'mountpoint') {
+    } else if (config._provider === mounts.MOUNT_TYPE_MOUNTPOINT) {
         hostPath = config.mountPoint;
-    } else if (config._provider === 'filesystem') {
+    } else if (config._provider === mounts.MOUNT_TYPE_FILESYSTEM) {
         hostPath = config.backupDir;
     }
 
diff --git a/src/storage/gcs.js b/src/storage/gcs.js
index 82186ec6c..0fb884510 100644
--- a/src/storage/gcs.js
+++ b/src/storage/gcs.js
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ async function getStatus(apiConfig) {
     const query = { prefix: path.join(apiConfig.prefix, 'snapshot'), autoPaginate: false, maxResults: 1 };
     const [listError] = await safe(bucket.getFiles(query));
     if (listError) return { state: 'inactive', message: `Failed to get files: ${listError.message}` };
-    return { state: 'active' };
+    return { state: 'active', message: '' };
 }
 
 async function upload(apiConfig, remotePath) {
diff --git a/src/storage/s3.js b/src/storage/s3.js
index b62bcbd39..44839ff15 100644
--- a/src/storage/s3.js
+++ b/src/storage/s3.js
@@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ async function getStatus(apiConfig) {
     const [listError] = await safe(s3.listObjectsV2(listParams));
     if (listError) return { status: 'inactive', message: `Error listing objects. ${formatError(listError)}` };
 
-    return { state: 'active' };
+    return { state: 'active', message: '' };
 }
 
 async function upload(apiConfig, remotePath) {