diff --git a/src/internal/kopia/backup_bases.go b/src/internal/kopia/backup_bases.go
index f18515d8f..e908e9aec 100644
--- a/src/internal/kopia/backup_bases.go
+++ b/src/internal/kopia/backup_bases.go
@@ -75,6 +75,10 @@ type BackupBases interface {
 	SnapshotAssistBases() []BackupBase
 }
 
+func EmptyBackupBase() BackupBases {
+	return &backupBases{}
+}
+
 type backupBases struct {
 	mergeBases  []BackupBase
 	assistBases []BackupBase
diff --git a/src/internal/operations/manifests.go b/src/internal/operations/manifests.go
index ecabe6d97..f1305e825 100644
--- a/src/internal/operations/manifests.go
+++ b/src/internal/operations/manifests.go
@@ -24,6 +24,17 @@ func produceManifestsAndMetadata(
 	tenantID string,
 	getMetadata, dropAssistBases bool,
 ) (kopia.BackupBases, []data.RestoreCollection, bool, error) {
+	// Just return early if we're going to end up dropping all the bases anyway.
+	// This will avoid loading kopia manifest data in the case that we're doing a
+	// full enumeration and refetching all item data for the resource.
+	//
+	// It's easier to work through later logic if we know that the returned
+	// kopia.BackupBases is non-nil for non-error cases so return a trivial
+	// implementation here.
+	if !getMetadata && dropAssistBases {
+		return kopia.EmptyBackupBase(), nil, false, nil
+	}
+
 	bb, meta, useMergeBases, err := getManifestsAndMetadata(
 		ctx,
 		bf,