diff --git a/swift/obj/replicator.py b/swift/obj/replicator.py
index c06586c079..b3df0ce28f 100644
--- a/swift/obj/replicator.py
+++ b/swift/obj/replicator.py
@@ -256,7 +256,7 @@ class ObjectReplicator(Daemon):
                                 node['device'], job['partition'], 'REPLICATE',
                                 '/' + '-'.join(suffixes), headers=self.headers)
                             conn.getresponse().read()
-                        if node['region'] != job['region'] and cand_objs:
+                        if node['region'] != job['region']:
                             synced_remote_regions[node['region']] = cand_objs
                     responses.append(success)
                 for region, cand_objs in synced_remote_regions.iteritems():
@@ -272,21 +272,25 @@ class ObjectReplicator(Daemon):
                 # delete handoff if all syncs were successful
                 delete_handoff = len(responses) == len(job['nodes']) and \
                     all(responses)
-            if not suffixes or delete_handoff:
+            if delete_handoff:
                 if delete_objs:
                     self.logger.info(_("Removing %s objects"),
                                      len(delete_objs))
                     self.delete_handoff_objs(job, delete_objs)
-                else:
-                    self.logger.info(_("Removing partition: %s"), job['path'])
-                    tpool.execute(
-                        shutil.rmtree, job['path'], ignore_errors=True)
+                elif self.conf.get('sync_method') == 'rsync':
+                    self.delete_partition(job['path'])
+            elif not suffixes:
+                self.delete_partition(job['path'])
         except (Exception, Timeout):
             self.logger.exception(_("Error syncing handoff partition"))
         finally:
             self.partition_times.append(time.time() - begin)
             self.logger.timing_since('partition.delete.timing', begin)
 
+    def delete_partition(self, path):
+        self.logger.info(_("Removing partition: %s"), path)
+        tpool.execute(shutil.rmtree, path, ignore_errors=True)
+
     def delete_handoff_objs(self, job, delete_objs):
         for object_hash in delete_objs:
             object_path = storage_directory(job['obj_path'], job['partition'],
diff --git a/swift/obj/ssync_sender.py b/swift/obj/ssync_sender.py
index dc288c0113..1058ab262d 100644
--- a/swift/obj/ssync_sender.py
+++ b/swift/obj/ssync_sender.py
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ class Sender(object):
                 # other exceptions will be logged with a full stack trace.
                 self.connect()
                 self.missing_check()
-                if not self.remote_check_objs:
+                if self.remote_check_objs is None:
                     self.updates()
                     can_delete_obj = self.available_set
                 else:
@@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ class Sender(object):
         hash_gen = self.daemon._diskfile_mgr.yield_hashes(
             self.job['device'], self.job['partition'],
             self.policy_idx, self.suffixes)
-        if self.remote_check_objs:
+        if self.remote_check_objs is not None:
             hash_gen = ifilter(lambda (path, object_hash, timestamp):
                                object_hash in self.remote_check_objs, hash_gen)
         for path, object_hash, timestamp in hash_gen:
diff --git a/test/unit/obj/test_replicator.py b/test/unit/obj/test_replicator.py
index 47288b9ed2..bf1c5bcb52 100644
--- a/test/unit/obj/test_replicator.py
+++ b/test/unit/obj/test_replicator.py
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ from errno import ENOENT, ENOTEMPTY, ENOTDIR
 from eventlet.green import subprocess
 from eventlet import Timeout, tpool
 
-from test.unit import FakeLogger, patch_policies
+from test.unit import FakeLogger, debug_logger, patch_policies
 from swift.common import utils
 from swift.common.utils import hash_path, mkdirs, normalize_timestamp, \
     storage_directory
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ class TestObjectReplicator(unittest.TestCase):
         _create_test_rings(self.testdir)
         self.conf = dict(
             swift_dir=self.testdir, devices=self.devices, mount_check='false',
-            timeout='300', stats_interval='1')
+            timeout='300', stats_interval='1', sync_method='rsync')
         self.replicator = object_replicator.ObjectReplicator(self.conf)
         self.replicator.logger = FakeLogger()
         self.df_mgr = diskfile.DiskFileManager(self.conf,
@@ -713,6 +713,46 @@ class TestObjectReplicator(unittest.TestCase):
             self.assertTrue(os.access(part_path, os.F_OK))
             del self.call_nums
 
+    def test_delete_objs_ssync_only_when_in_sync(self):
+        self.replicator.logger = debug_logger('test-replicator')
+        with mock.patch('swift.obj.replicator.http_connect',
+                        mock_http_connect(200)):
+            df = self.df_mgr.get_diskfile('sda', '1', 'a', 'c', 'o')
+            mkdirs(df._datadir)
+            f = open(os.path.join(df._datadir,
+                                  normalize_timestamp(time.time()) + '.data'),
+                     'wb')
+            f.write('0')
+            f.close()
+            ohash = hash_path('a', 'c', 'o')
+            whole_path_from = storage_directory(self.objects, 1, ohash)
+            suffix_dir_path = os.path.dirname(whole_path_from)
+            part_path = os.path.join(self.objects, '1')
+            self.assertTrue(os.access(part_path, os.F_OK))
+            self.call_nums = 0
+            self.conf['sync_method'] = 'ssync'
+
+            in_sync_objs = []
+
+            def _fake_ssync(node, job, suffixes, remote_check_objs=None):
+                self.call_nums += 1
+                if remote_check_objs is None:
+                    # sync job
+                    ret_val = [whole_path_from]
+                else:
+                    ret_val = in_sync_objs
+                return True, set(ret_val)
+
+            self.replicator.sync_method = _fake_ssync
+            self.replicator.replicate()
+            self.assertEqual(3, self.call_nums)
+            # The file should still exist
+            self.assertTrue(os.access(whole_path_from, os.F_OK))
+            self.assertTrue(os.access(suffix_dir_path, os.F_OK))
+            self.assertTrue(os.access(part_path, os.F_OK))
+
+            del self.call_nums
+
     def test_delete_partition_ssync_with_cleanup_failure(self):
         with mock.patch('swift.obj.replicator.http_connect',
                         mock_http_connect(200)):