diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/searchable-snapshots/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/searchablesnapshots/SearchableSnapshotAllocator.java b/x-pack/plugin/searchable-snapshots/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/searchablesnapshots/SearchableSnapshotAllocator.java
index 3cec34198c1c3..3ff1e1b70c330 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/searchable-snapshots/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/searchablesnapshots/SearchableSnapshotAllocator.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/searchable-snapshots/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/searchablesnapshots/SearchableSnapshotAllocator.java
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@
 
 import static org.elasticsearch.xpack.searchablesnapshots.SearchableSnapshots.SNAPSHOT_INDEX_ID_SETTING;
 import static org.elasticsearch.xpack.searchablesnapshots.SearchableSnapshots.SNAPSHOT_INDEX_NAME_SETTING;
+import static org.elasticsearch.xpack.searchablesnapshots.SearchableSnapshots.SNAPSHOT_PARTIAL_SETTING;
 import static org.elasticsearch.xpack.searchablesnapshots.SearchableSnapshots.SNAPSHOT_REPOSITORY_NAME_SETTING;
 import static org.elasticsearch.xpack.searchablesnapshots.SearchableSnapshots.SNAPSHOT_SNAPSHOT_ID_SETTING;
 import static org.elasticsearch.xpack.searchablesnapshots.SearchableSnapshots.SNAPSHOT_SNAPSHOT_NAME_SETTING;
@@ -262,6 +263,12 @@ public int getNumberOfInFlightFetches() {
     private AsyncShardFetch.FetchResult<NodeCacheFilesMetadata> fetchData(ShardRouting shard, RoutingAllocation allocation) {
         final ShardId shardId = shard.shardId();
         final Settings indexSettings = allocation.metadata().index(shard.index()).getSettings();
+
+        if (SNAPSHOT_PARTIAL_SETTING.get(indexSettings)) {
+            // cached data for partial indices is not persistent, no need to fetch it
+            return new AsyncShardFetch.FetchResult<>(shardId, Collections.emptyMap(), Collections.emptySet());
+        }
+
         final SnapshotId snapshotId = new SnapshotId(
             SNAPSHOT_SNAPSHOT_NAME_SETTING.get(indexSettings),
             SNAPSHOT_SNAPSHOT_ID_SETTING.get(indexSettings)
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/searchable-snapshots/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/searchablesnapshots/action/cache/TransportSearchableSnapshotCacheStoresAction.java b/x-pack/plugin/searchable-snapshots/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/searchablesnapshots/action/cache/TransportSearchableSnapshotCacheStoresAction.java
index b8989aa902c9b..09035aa0b2738 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/searchable-snapshots/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/searchablesnapshots/action/cache/TransportSearchableSnapshotCacheStoresAction.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/searchable-snapshots/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/searchablesnapshots/action/cache/TransportSearchableSnapshotCacheStoresAction.java
@@ -29,6 +29,9 @@
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Optional;
+
+import static org.elasticsearch.xpack.searchablesnapshots.SearchableSnapshots.SNAPSHOT_PARTIAL_SETTING;
 
 public class TransportSearchableSnapshotCacheStoresAction extends TransportNodesAction<
     TransportSearchableSnapshotCacheStoresAction.Request,
@@ -87,6 +90,9 @@ protected NodeCacheFilesMetadata newNodeResponse(StreamInput in) throws IOExcept
     @Override
     protected NodeCacheFilesMetadata nodeOperation(NodeRequest request) {
         assert cacheService != null;
+        assert Optional.ofNullable(clusterService.state().metadata().index(request.shardId.getIndex()))
+            .map(indexMetadata -> SNAPSHOT_PARTIAL_SETTING.get(indexMetadata.getSettings()))
+            .orElse(false) == false : request.shardId + " is partial, should not be fetching its cached size";
         return new NodeCacheFilesMetadata(clusterService.localNode(), cacheService.getCachedSize(request.shardId, request.snapshotId));
     }
 
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/searchable-snapshots/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/searchablesnapshots/SearchableSnapshotAllocatorTests.java b/x-pack/plugin/searchable-snapshots/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/searchablesnapshots/SearchableSnapshotAllocatorTests.java
index 85e4347c8fd1c..a40bb484113c9 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/searchable-snapshots/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/searchablesnapshots/SearchableSnapshotAllocatorTests.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/searchable-snapshots/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/searchablesnapshots/SearchableSnapshotAllocatorTests.java
@@ -46,9 +46,11 @@
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
 import java.util.function.Function;
+import java.util.function.UnaryOperator;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 
 import static org.elasticsearch.node.Node.NODE_NAME_SETTING;
+import static org.elasticsearch.xpack.searchablesnapshots.SearchableSnapshots.SNAPSHOT_PARTIAL_SETTING;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.empty;
 
 public class SearchableSnapshotAllocatorTests extends ESAllocationTestCase {
@@ -153,7 +155,7 @@ public <Request extends ActionRequest, Response extends ActionResponse> void doE
                 Request request,
                 ActionListener<Response> listener
             ) {
-                throw new AssertionError("Expecting no requests but received [" + action + "]");
+                throw new AssertionError("Expecting no requests but received [" + action.name() + "]");
             }
         };
 
@@ -167,15 +169,66 @@ public <Request extends ActionRequest, Response extends ActionResponse> void doE
         assertTrue(allocation.routingTable().index(shardId.getIndex()).allPrimaryShardsUnassigned());
     }
 
+    public void testNoFetchesForPartialIndex() {
+        final ShardId shardId = new ShardId("test", "_na_", 0);
+        final List<DiscoveryNode> nodes = randomList(1, 10, () -> newNode("node-" + UUIDs.randomBase64UUID(random())));
+        final DiscoveryNode localNode = randomFrom(nodes);
+        final Settings localNodeSettings = Settings.builder().put(NODE_NAME_SETTING.getKey(), localNode.getName()).build();
+
+        final DeterministicTaskQueue deterministicTaskQueue = new DeterministicTaskQueue(localNodeSettings, random());
+
+        final Metadata metadata = buildSingleShardIndexMetadata(shardId, builder -> builder.put(SNAPSHOT_PARTIAL_SETTING.getKey(), true));
+        final RoutingTable.Builder routingTableBuilder = RoutingTable.builder();
+        routingTableBuilder.addAsRestore(metadata.index(shardId.getIndex()), randomSnapshotSource(shardId));
+
+        final ClusterState state = buildClusterState(nodes, metadata, routingTableBuilder);
+        final RoutingAllocation allocation = buildAllocation(
+            deterministicTaskQueue,
+            state,
+            randomNonNegativeLong(),
+            yesAllocationDeciders()
+        );
+
+        final Client client = new NoOpNodeClient(deterministicTaskQueue.getThreadPool()) {
+            @Override
+            public <Request extends ActionRequest, Response extends ActionResponse> void doExecute(
+                ActionType<Response> action,
+                Request request,
+                ActionListener<Response> listener
+            ) {
+                throw new AssertionError("Expecting no requests but received [" + action.name() + "]");
+            }
+        };
+
+        final SearchableSnapshotAllocator allocator = new SearchableSnapshotAllocator(
+            client,
+            (reason, priority, listener) -> { throw new AssertionError("Expecting no reroutes"); }
+        );
+        allocateAllUnassigned(allocation, allocator);
+        assertFalse(allocation.routingNodesChanged());
+        assertThat(allocation.routingNodes().assignedShards(shardId), empty());
+        assertTrue(allocation.routingTable().index(shardId.getIndex()).allPrimaryShardsUnassigned());
+    }
+
     private static Metadata buildSingleShardIndexMetadata(ShardId shardId) {
+        return buildSingleShardIndexMetadata(shardId, UnaryOperator.identity());
+    }
+
+    private static Metadata buildSingleShardIndexMetadata(ShardId shardId, UnaryOperator<Settings.Builder> extraSettings) {
         return Metadata.builder()
             .put(
                 IndexMetadata.builder(shardId.getIndexName())
                     .settings(
-                        settings(Version.CURRENT).put(
-                            ExistingShardsAllocator.EXISTING_SHARDS_ALLOCATOR_SETTING.getKey(),
-                            SearchableSnapshotAllocator.ALLOCATOR_NAME
-                        ).put(IndexModule.INDEX_STORE_TYPE_SETTING.getKey(), SearchableSnapshotsConstants.SNAPSHOT_DIRECTORY_FACTORY_KEY)
+                        extraSettings.apply(
+                            settings(Version.CURRENT).put(
+                                ExistingShardsAllocator.EXISTING_SHARDS_ALLOCATOR_SETTING.getKey(),
+                                SearchableSnapshotAllocator.ALLOCATOR_NAME
+                            )
+                                .put(
+                                    IndexModule.INDEX_STORE_TYPE_SETTING.getKey(),
+                                    SearchableSnapshotsConstants.SNAPSHOT_DIRECTORY_FACTORY_KEY
+                                )
+                        )
                     )
                     .numberOfShards(1)
                     .numberOfReplicas(0)