diff --git a/src/restic/backend/sftp/layout_test.go b/src/restic/backend/sftp/layout_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4bf0d41ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/restic/backend/sftp/layout_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+package sftp_test
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"restic/backend/sftp"
+	. "restic/test"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestLayout(t *testing.T) {
+	path, cleanup := TempDir(t)
+	defer cleanup()
+
+	var tests = []struct {
+		filename        string
+		layout          string
+		failureExpected bool
+	}{
+		{"repo-layout-local.tar.gz", "", false},
+		{"repo-layout-cloud.tar.gz", "", false},
+		{"repo-layout-s3-old.tar.gz", "", false},
+	}
+
+	for _, test := range tests {
+		t.Run(test.filename, func(t *testing.T) {
+			SetupTarTestFixture(t, path, filepath.Join("..", "testdata", test.filename))
+
+			repo := filepath.Join(path, "repo")
+			be, err := sftp.Open(sftp.Config{
+				Command: fmt.Sprintf("%q -e", sftpserver),
+				Path:    repo,
+				Layout:  test.layout,
+			})
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+
+			if be == nil {
+				t.Fatalf("Open() returned nil but no error")
+			}
+
+			RemoveAll(t, filepath.Join(path, "repo"))
+		})
+	}
+}
diff --git a/src/restic/backend/sftp/sftp_backend_test.go b/src/restic/backend/sftp/sftp_backend_test.go
index 289c62206..1834beee8 100644
--- a/src/restic/backend/sftp/sftp_backend_test.go
+++ b/src/restic/backend/sftp/sftp_backend_test.go
@@ -34,18 +34,21 @@ func createTempdir() error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func init() {
-	sftpserver := ""
-
+func findSFTPServerBinary() string {
 	for _, dir := range strings.Split(TestSFTPPath, ":") {
 		testpath := filepath.Join(dir, "sftp-server")
 		_, err := os.Stat(testpath)
 		if !os.IsNotExist(errors.Cause(err)) {
-			sftpserver = testpath
-			break
+			return testpath
 		}
 	}
 
+	return ""
+}
+
+var sftpserver = findSFTPServerBinary()
+
+func init() {
 	if sftpserver == "" {
 		SkipMessage = "sftp server binary not found, skipping tests"
 		return