diff --git a/cmd/erasure-object.go b/cmd/erasure-object.go
index 92d40d810..61a31aa15 100644
--- a/cmd/erasure-object.go
+++ b/cmd/erasure-object.go
@@ -660,9 +660,15 @@ func pickLatestQuorumFilesInfo(ctx context.Context, rawFileInfos []RawFileInfo,
 	meta := &xlMetaV2{versions: mergeXLV2Versions(readQuorum, false, 1, metadataShallowVersions...)}
 	lfi, err := meta.ToFileInfo(bucket, object, "", inclFreeVers, true)
 	if err != nil {
+		// No version in quorum proves absence only when every drive answered.
+		// Otherwise a drive holding a version keeps the read retryable.
+		partial := errors.Is(err, errFileNotFound) && !allDrivesAnswered(errs)
 		for i := range errs {
 			if errs[i] == nil {
 				errs[i] = err
+				if partial && hasVersion(metadataArray[i], inclFreeVers) {
+					errs[i] = errErasureReadQuorum
+				}
 			}
 		}
 		return metaFileInfos, errs
@@ -706,6 +712,33 @@ func pickLatestQuorumFilesInfo(ctx context.Context, rawFileInfos []RawFileInfo,
 	return metaFileInfos, errs
 }
 
+// allDrivesAnswered reports whether every drive returned its metadata or a
+// definitive answer that it has none. Offline drives keep errDiskOngoingReq
+// in getObjectFileInfo; unreachable ones return errDiskNotFound or a
+// transport error.
+func allDrivesAnswered(errs []error) bool {
+	for _, err := range errs {
+		if err != nil && !IsErr(err, errFileNotFound, errFileVersionNotFound, errFileCorrupt, errVolumeNotFound) {
+			return false
+		}
+	}
+	return true
+}
+
+// hasVersion reports whether a drive's xl.meta holds a version a read can
+// return.
+func hasVersion(xl *xlMetaV2, inclFreeVers bool) bool {
+	if xl == nil {
+		return false
+	}
+	for _, ver := range xl.versions {
+		if inclFreeVers || !ver.header.FreeVersion() {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
 // Checking if an object is dangling costs some IOPS; hence implementing this function
 // which decides which condition it is useful to check if an object is dangling
 //
@@ -1006,8 +1039,10 @@ func (er erasureObjects) getObjectFileInfo(ctx context.Context, bucket, object s
 		}
 		// when we have insufficient read quorum and inconsistent metadata return
 		// file not found, since we can't possibly have a way to recover this object
-		// anyway.
-		if v, ok := err.(InsufficientReadQuorum); ok && v.Type == RQInconsistentMeta {
+		// anyway. That holds only when every drive answered: a drive that is
+		// offline or not yet reconnected may hold the copies that make quorum,
+		// and a 404 for an existing object is final to clients.
+		if v, ok := err.(InsufficientReadQuorum); ok && v.Type == RQInconsistentMeta && allDrivesAnswered(errs) {
 			if opts.VersionID != "" {
 				err = errFileVersionNotFound
 			} else {
diff --git a/cmd/erasure-partial-view-404_test.go b/cmd/erasure-partial-view-404_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..bbba52d4d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/erasure-partial-view-404_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,315 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2026 Feng Ruohang
+//
+// This file is part of Silo Object Storage stack
+//
+// This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+// it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by
+// the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+// (at your option) any later version.
+//
+// This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+// but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+// MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
+// GNU Affero General Public License for more details.
+//
+// You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
+// along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+package cmd
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"context"
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"net/http"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/minio/minio/internal/bucket/versioning"
+)
+
+// downTier is a remote tier that is unreachable, as a warm backend reports a
+// refused connection after ErrorRespToObjectError.
+type downTier struct{ *tierExpiryTestBackend }
+
+func (downTier) Get(context.Context, string, remoteVersionID, WarmBackendGetOpts) (io.ReadCloser, error) {
+	return nil, BackendDown{Err: "dial tcp 127.0.0.1:9710: connect: connection refused"}
+}
+
+// partialView is an 8-drive, EC 4+4 erasure set (the layout of the 4-node x
+// 2-drive acceptance cluster: positions 0,1 = n1; 2,3 = n2; 4,5 = n3;
+// 6,7 = n4) with an in-memory tier WARM.
+type partialView struct {
+	*restoreTest
+	er       *erasureObjects
+	original func() []StorageAPI
+	all      []StorageAPI
+}
+
+func newPartialView(t *testing.T, state versioning.State) *partialView {
+	t.Helper()
+	prevTier := globalTierConfigMgr
+	t.Cleanup(func() { globalTierConfigMgr = prevTier })
+	dirs, err := getRandomDisks(8)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	t.Cleanup(func() { removeRoots(dirs) })
+	obj, _, err := initObjectLayer(t.Context(), mustGetPoolEndpoints(0, dirs...))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	z := obj.(*erasureServerPools)
+	t.Cleanup(func() { z.Shutdown(context.Background()) })
+	if n := len(z.serverPools[0].sets); n != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("want one erasure set, got %d", n)
+	}
+	globalTierConfigMgr = NewTierConfigMgr()
+	backend := &tierExpiryTestBackend{objects: map[string][]byte{}}
+	globalTierConfigMgr.drivercache["WARM"] = &restoreTestTier{tierExpiryTestBackend: backend}
+	r := &restoreTest{t: t, z: z, bucket: getRandomBucketName(), object: "t1", labels: map[string]string{}, bodies: map[string][]byte{}}
+	if err := z.MakeBucket(t.Context(), r.bucket, MakeBucketOptions{VersioningEnabled: state == versioning.Enabled}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	meta, err := globalBucketMetadataSys.Get(r.bucket)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	meta.LifecycleConfigXML = []byte(restoreSafetyRules)
+	if err := meta.Save(t.Context(), z); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	globalBucketMetadataSys.Set(r.bucket, meta)
+	er := z.serverPools[0].getHashedSet(r.object)
+	if er.setDriveCount != 8 || er.defaultParityCount != 4 {
+		t.Fatalf("want EC 4+4 on 8 drives, got %d drives parity %d", er.setDriveCount, er.defaultParityCount)
+	}
+	p := &partialView{restoreTest: r, er: er, original: er.getDisks, all: er.getDisks()}
+	t.Cleanup(func() { er.getDisks = p.original })
+	return p
+}
+
+// see makes only the drives at the given positions reachable from the
+// erasure set, as for a node whose connections to the others are not yet up.
+func (p *partialView) see(positions ...int) {
+	visible := make([]StorageAPI, len(p.all))
+	for _, i := range positions {
+		visible[i] = p.all[i]
+	}
+	p.er.getDisks = func() []StorageAPI { return visible }
+}
+
+func (p *partialView) seeAll() { p.er.getDisks = p.original }
+
+func (p *partialView) tierDown() {
+	globalTierConfigMgr.drivercache["WARM"] = downTier{&tierExpiryTestBackend{objects: map[string][]byte{}}}
+}
+
+// drives describes the version on each drive: R restored, T transitioned
+// (not restored), L local, - missing.
+func (p *partialView) drives(versionID string) string {
+	p.t.Helper()
+	infos, errs := readAllFileInfo(p.t.Context(), p.all, "", p.bucket, p.object, restoreTestVersionKey(versionID), false, false)
+	var b bytes.Buffer
+	for i := range infos {
+		switch {
+		case errs[i] != nil:
+			b.WriteByte('-')
+		case infos[i].IsRemote():
+			b.WriteByte('T')
+		case infos[i].TransitionStatus != "":
+			b.WriteByte('R')
+		default:
+			b.WriteByte('L')
+		}
+	}
+	return b.String()
+}
+
+func (p *partialView) transition(oi ObjectInfo) {
+	p.t.Helper()
+	topts := p.opts(oi.VersionID)
+	topts.MTime = oi.ModTime
+	topts.Transition = TransitionOptions{Tier: "WARM", ETag: oi.ETag}
+	if err := p.z.TransitionObject(p.t.Context(), p.bucket, p.object, topts); err != nil {
+		p.t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+}
+
+func (p *partialView) restoreObject(oi ObjectInfo) {
+	p.t.Helper()
+	ropts := p.opts(oi.VersionID)
+	ropts.Transition = TransitionOptions{RestoreRequest: &RestoreObjectRequest{Days: 1}}
+	if err := p.z.serverPools[0].RestoreTransitionedObject(p.t.Context(), p.bucket, p.object, ropts); err != nil {
+		p.t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+}
+
+// getAndHead reads the latest version as an S3 GET and HEAD without a
+// version ID would.
+func (p *partialView) getAndHead() (data []byte, getErr, headErr error) {
+	opts := p.opts("")
+	gr, getErr := p.z.GetObjectNInfo(p.t.Context(), p.bucket, p.object, nil, nil, opts)
+	if getErr == nil {
+		data, getErr = io.ReadAll(gr)
+		gr.Close()
+	}
+	_, headErr = p.z.GetObjectInfo(p.t.Context(), p.bucket, p.object, opts)
+	return data, getErr, headErr
+}
+
+// wantRetryable requires the answer of a read that cannot reach quorum from a
+// partial view: a read-quorum error, which the API returns as 503 SlowDownRead,
+// never a 404 for an object that exists.
+func wantRetryable(t *testing.T, what string, err error) {
+	t.Helper()
+	var rq InsufficientReadQuorum
+	if !errors.As(err, &rq) {
+		t.Errorf("%s: got %T %v, want InsufficientReadQuorum", what, err, err)
+		return
+	}
+	if code := toAPIError(context.Background(), err).HTTPStatusCode; code != http.StatusServiceUnavailable {
+		t.Errorf("%s: HTTP %d, want 503", what, code)
+	}
+}
+
+// The acceptance failure: node1 restores t1 while node2's drives are not
+// reachable, so the restore commits on 6 of 8 drives (write quorum 5). node2
+// then restarts and reaches only its own drives and node4's (n1 and n3 not yet
+// reconnected), with the tier down. The 4 visible xl.meta are 2 transitioned
+// and 2 restored copies of the same version and mod time.
+func TestPartialViewRestoreSplitIsRetryable(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, state := range []versioning.State{versioning.Enabled, ""} {
+		t.Run(fmt.Sprintf("versioning=%q", state), func(t *testing.T) {
+			p := newPartialView(t, state)
+			oi := p.put("v1", state == "", true)
+			p.transition(oi)
+			p.see(0, 1, 4, 5, 6, 7) // node1's view: n2 not reachable
+			p.restoreObject(oi)
+			p.seeAll()
+			if got, want := p.drives(oi.VersionID), "RRTTRRRR"; got != want {
+				t.Fatalf("drive states %s, want %s", got, want)
+			}
+
+			p.tierDown()
+			p.see(2, 3, 6, 7) // node2's view after its restart
+			_, getErr, headErr := p.getAndHead()
+			wantRetryable(t, "GET", getErr)
+			wantRetryable(t, "HEAD", headErr)
+
+			// Every view that contains a quorum of the restored copy reads it.
+			p.see(0, 1, 4, 5, 6, 7)
+			data, getErr, headErr := p.getAndHead()
+			if getErr != nil || headErr != nil || !bytes.Equal(data, p.bodies["v1"]) {
+				t.Errorf("node1 view: GET err=%v HEAD err=%v bytes=%d", getErr, headErr, len(data))
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+// The same split, made by a transition instead of a restore: a node that sees
+// 2 local and 2 transitioned copies.
+func TestPartialViewTransitionSplitIsRetryable(t *testing.T) {
+	p := newPartialView(t, versioning.Enabled)
+	oi := p.put("v1", false, true)
+	p.see(0, 1, 4, 5, 6, 7)
+	p.transition(oi)
+	p.seeAll()
+	if got, want := p.drives(oi.VersionID), "TTLLTTTT"; got != want {
+		t.Fatalf("drive states %s, want %s", got, want)
+	}
+	p.see(2, 3, 6, 7)
+	_, getErr, headErr := p.getAndHead()
+	wantRetryable(t, "GET", getErr)
+	wantRetryable(t, "HEAD", headErr)
+}
+
+// Generic, without tiering: an overwrite committed on 6 of 8 drives, read by
+// a node that sees 2 old and 2 new copies.
+func TestPartialViewOverwriteSplit(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, state := range []versioning.State{versioning.Enabled, ""} {
+		t.Run(fmt.Sprintf("versioning=%q", state), func(t *testing.T) {
+			p := newPartialView(t, state)
+			p.put("old", state == "", true)
+			p.see(0, 1, 4, 5, 6, 7)
+			p.put("new", state == "", true)
+			p.seeAll()
+			p.see(2, 3, 6, 7)
+			data, getErr, headErr := p.getAndHead()
+			if state == "" {
+				wantRetryable(t, "GET", getErr)
+				wantRetryable(t, "HEAD", headErr)
+				return
+			}
+			// A versioned overwrite can be served from the older version
+			// through such a view (existing behavior, out of scope here),
+			// but must never be reported missing.
+			for what, err := range map[string]error{"GET": getErr, "HEAD": headErr} {
+				if err != nil {
+					wantRetryable(t, what, err)
+				}
+			}
+			if getErr == nil && !bytes.Equal(data, p.bodies["old"]) && !bytes.Equal(data, p.bodies["new"]) {
+				t.Errorf("GET returned neither version (%d bytes)", len(data))
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+// Controls: what must not change.
+func TestPartialViewControls(t *testing.T) {
+	p := newPartialView(t, versioning.Enabled)
+	// A key that never existed is still 404 from a partial view.
+	p.see(2, 3, 6, 7)
+	if _, getErr, headErr := p.getAndHead(); !isErrObjectNotFound(getErr) || !isErrObjectNotFound(headErr) {
+		t.Errorf("absent key: GET err=%v HEAD err=%v, want ObjectNotFound", getErr, headErr)
+	}
+	// A consistent object is readable from exactly a read quorum of drives.
+	p.seeAll()
+	p.put("v1", false, true)
+	p.see(2, 3, 6, 7)
+	if data, getErr, headErr := p.getAndHead(); getErr != nil || headErr != nil || !bytes.Equal(data, p.bodies["v1"]) {
+		t.Errorf("consistent object: GET err=%v HEAD err=%v", getErr, headErr)
+	}
+}
+
+// Upstream behavior that must stay: when every drive answered and no
+// metadata reaches read quorum, the object is reported missing (#20522).
+func TestAllDrivesAnsweredInconsistentStays404(t *testing.T) {
+	wipe := func(p *partialView, positions ...int) {
+		for _, i := range positions {
+			if err := p.all[i].Delete(t.Context(), p.bucket, p.object, DeleteOptions{Recursive: true, Immediate: true}); err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	t.Run("restore", func(t *testing.T) {
+		p := newPartialView(t, versioning.Enabled)
+		oi := p.put("v1", false, true)
+		p.transition(oi)
+		p.see(0, 1, 5, 6, 7)
+		p.restoreObject(oi)
+		p.seeAll()
+		wipe(p, 0, 1)
+		if got, want := p.drives(oi.VersionID), "--TTTRRR"; got != want {
+			t.Fatalf("drive states %s, want %s", got, want)
+		}
+		_, getErr, headErr := p.getAndHead()
+		if !isErrObjectNotFound(getErr) || !isErrObjectNotFound(headErr) {
+			t.Errorf("GET err=%v HEAD err=%v, want ObjectNotFound", getErr, headErr)
+		}
+	})
+	t.Run("unversioned-overwrite", func(t *testing.T) {
+		p := newPartialView(t, "")
+		p.put("old", true, true)
+		p.see(0, 1, 5, 6, 7)
+		p.put("new", true, true)
+		p.seeAll()
+		wipe(p, 0, 1)
+		_, getErr, headErr := p.getAndHead()
+		if !isErrObjectNotFound(getErr) || !isErrObjectNotFound(headErr) {
+			t.Errorf("GET err=%v HEAD err=%v, want ObjectNotFound", getErr, headErr)
+		}
+	})
+}