diff --git a/gerrit-acceptance-framework/src/test/java/com/google/gerrit/acceptance/GerritServer.java b/gerrit-acceptance-framework/src/test/java/com/google/gerrit/acceptance/GerritServer.java
index 926c3babf9..72be32f48d 100644
--- a/gerrit-acceptance-framework/src/test/java/com/google/gerrit/acceptance/GerritServer.java
+++ b/gerrit-acceptance-framework/src/test/java/com/google/gerrit/acceptance/GerritServer.java
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import static com.google.common.truth.TruthJUnit.assume;
 
 import com.google.auto.value.AutoValue;
 import com.google.common.base.MoreObjects;
+import com.google.common.base.Strings;
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableList;
 import com.google.gerrit.common.Nullable;
 import com.google.gerrit.extensions.config.FactoryModule;
@@ -49,6 +50,7 @@ import java.net.URI;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.Locale;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.concurrent.BrokenBarrierException;
 import java.util.concurrent.CyclicBarrier;
@@ -79,7 +81,7 @@ public class GerritServer implements AutoCloseable {
       return new AutoValue_GerritServer_Description(
           testDesc,
           configName,
-          !has(UseLocalDisk.class, testDesc.getTestClass()),
+          !has(UseLocalDisk.class, testDesc.getTestClass()) && !forceLocalDisk(),
           !has(NoHttpd.class, testDesc.getTestClass()),
           has(Sandboxed.class, testDesc.getTestClass()),
           has(UseSsh.class, testDesc.getTestClass()),
@@ -94,8 +96,9 @@ public class GerritServer implements AutoCloseable {
       return new AutoValue_GerritServer_Description(
           testDesc,
           configName,
-          testDesc.getAnnotation(UseLocalDisk.class) == null
-              && !has(UseLocalDisk.class, testDesc.getTestClass()),
+          (testDesc.getAnnotation(UseLocalDisk.class) == null
+                  && !has(UseLocalDisk.class, testDesc.getTestClass()))
+              && !forceLocalDisk(),
           testDesc.getAnnotation(NoHttpd.class) == null
               && !has(NoHttpd.class, testDesc.getTestClass()),
           testDesc.getAnnotation(Sandboxed.class) != null
@@ -179,6 +182,21 @@ public class GerritServer implements AutoCloseable {
     }
   }
 
+  private static boolean forceLocalDisk() {
+    String value = Strings.nullToEmpty(System.getenv("GERRIT_FORCE_LOCAL_DISK"));
+    if (value.isEmpty()) {
+      value = Strings.nullToEmpty(System.getProperty("gerrit.forceLocalDisk"));
+    }
+    switch (value.trim().toLowerCase(Locale.US)) {
+      case "1":
+      case "yes":
+      case "true":
+        return true;
+      default:
+        return false;
+    }
+  }
+
   /**
    * Initializes on-disk site but does not start server.
    *
diff --git a/gerrit-acceptance-tests/src/test/java/com/google/gerrit/acceptance/server/notedb/NoteDbOnlyIT.java b/gerrit-acceptance-tests/src/test/java/com/google/gerrit/acceptance/server/notedb/NoteDbOnlyIT.java
index 9859086b0b..9efbe3607f 100644
--- a/gerrit-acceptance-tests/src/test/java/com/google/gerrit/acceptance/server/notedb/NoteDbOnlyIT.java
+++ b/gerrit-acceptance-tests/src/test/java/com/google/gerrit/acceptance/server/notedb/NoteDbOnlyIT.java
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ public class NoteDbOnlyIT extends AbstractDaemonTest {
     String master = "refs/heads/master";
     ObjectId initial;
     try (Repository repo = repoManager.openRepository(project)) {
-      ((InMemoryRepository) repo).setPerformsAtomicTransactions(true);
+      ensureAtomicTransactions(repo);
       initial = repo.exactRef(master).getObjectId();
     }
 
@@ -344,4 +344,14 @@ public class NoteDbOnlyIT extends AbstractDaemonTest {
       return Streams.stream(rw).map(c -> c.getShortMessage()).collect(toList());
     }
   }
+
+  private void ensureAtomicTransactions(Repository repo) throws Exception {
+    if (repo instanceof InMemoryRepository) {
+      ((InMemoryRepository) repo).setPerformsAtomicTransactions(true);
+    } else {
+      assertThat(repo.getRefDatabase().performsAtomicTransactions())
+          .named("performsAtomicTransactions on %s", repo)
+          .isTrue();
+    }
+  }
 }