diff --git a/java/org/slub/rosetta/dps/repository/plugin/storage/nfs/SLUBStoragePlugin.java b/java/org/slub/rosetta/dps/repository/plugin/storage/nfs/SLUBStoragePlugin.java
index b3e159bec1aaad742ed0f19eb3b0e714b44baf4f..52a98e077a5606c56e9e8648a192382eb8f3f252 100644
--- a/java/org/slub/rosetta/dps/repository/plugin/storage/nfs/SLUBStoragePlugin.java
+++ b/java/org/slub/rosetta/dps/repository/plugin/storage/nfs/SLUBStoragePlugin.java
@@ -205,7 +205,8 @@ public class SLUBStoragePlugin extends AbstractStorageHandler {
             log.info("SLUBStoragePlugin.checkFixityByPlugin() oldvalue=" + oldValue);
         }
         catch (Exception e) {
-            log.warn("SLUBStoragePlugin.checkFixityByPlugin() hard error getting previous fixity value, ", e.getMessage());
+            log.error("SLUBStoragePlugin.checkFixityByPlugin() hard error getting previous fixity value, ", e.getMessage());
+            throw e;  // let Rosetta know something broke, creates technical issue in workbench
         }
         fixity.setValue(getChecksumUsingPlugin(isRelativePath ? getLocalFilePath(storedEntityIdentifier) : storedEntityIdentifier, pluginname, oldValue));
         /* HINT: if plugin name is still empty a java.lang.NullPointerException gets thrown