diff --git a/src/lib_shell_services/store_errors.ml b/src/lib_shell_services/store_errors.ml
index 86fb7614076bcd66f3755e49582438999c086ed4..f77f0d727a479d41de76cd46fcffa5d947b56c27 100644
--- a/src/lib_shell_services/store_errors.ml
+++ b/src/lib_shell_services/store_errors.ml
@@ -1299,6 +1299,7 @@ let () =
 
 (* Storage upgrade errors *)
 type error +=
+  | Cannot_find_chain_dir of string
   | V_3_0_upgrade_missing_floating_block of {
       block_hash : Block_hash.t;
       block_level : Int32.t;
@@ -1306,6 +1307,21 @@ type error +=
     }
 
 let () =
+  Error_monad.register_error_kind
+    `Permanent
+    ~id:"store.cannot_find_chain_dir"
+    ~title:"Cannot find chain dir"
+    ~description:"Cannot find chain dir while upgrading storage"
+    ~pp:(fun ppf path ->
+      Format.fprintf
+        ppf
+        "Failed to upgrade the storage. The chain directory %s cannot be \
+         found. Make sure that the data directory contains data of the \
+         expected network."
+        path)
+    Data_encoding.(obj1 (req "path" string))
+    (function Cannot_find_chain_dir p -> Some p | _ -> None)
+    (fun p -> Cannot_find_chain_dir p) ;
   register_error_kind
     `Permanent
     ~id:"block_store.v_3_0_upgrade_missing_floating_block"
diff --git a/src/lib_store/unix/store.ml b/src/lib_store/unix/store.ml
index 197e062868050e7612ccbf3567c6334010fa59f3..008ca4364b8262c929e106333c35c3ea3db4dc53 100644
--- a/src/lib_store/unix/store.ml
+++ b/src/lib_store/unix/store.ml
@@ -2985,6 +2985,11 @@ let v_3_0_upgrade ~store_dir genesis =
       let*! () = List.iter_s (fun f -> f ()) !cleanups in
       Lwt.return_error err)
     (fun () ->
+      let* () =
+        let chain_dir_path = Naming.dir_path chain_dir in
+        let*! chain_dir_exists = Lwt_unix.file_exists chain_dir_path in
+        fail_unless chain_dir_exists (Cannot_find_chain_dir chain_dir_path)
+      in
       let* () = upgrade_protocol_levels ~chain_dir ~cleanups ~finalizers in
       let* () = Block_store.v_3_0_upgrade chain_dir ~cleanups ~finalizers in
       let*! () = List.iter_s (fun f -> f ()) !finalizers in