diff --git a/services/maintenance/pi-usb-scratch-configmap.yaml b/services/maintenance/pi-usb-scratch-configmap.yaml
index b5807ad3..16aa2bc4 100644
--- a/services/maintenance/pi-usb-scratch-configmap.yaml
+++ b/services/maintenance/pi-usb-scratch-configmap.yaml
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@ data:
     # One-time bootstrap for new sticks that ship exfat/fat32.
     USB_SCRATCH_AUTO_FORMAT_REMOVABLE=true
     USB_SCRATCH_AUTO_FORMAT_LABEL=astraios
+    # Keep this false to avoid long rsync hangs on k3s runtime trees.
+    USB_SCRATCH_SEED_K3S_AGENT_DIRS=false
     # Keep /tmp in RAM to reduce SD-card writes.
     USB_SCRATCH_ENFORCE_TMPFS_TMP=true
     USB_SCRATCH_REQUIRED_FREE_GIB=20
diff --git a/services/maintenance/scripts/pi_usb_scratch.sh b/services/maintenance/scripts/pi_usb_scratch.sh
index 4c7ebddd..c8f67814 100755
--- a/services/maintenance/scripts/pi_usb_scratch.sh
+++ b/services/maintenance/scripts/pi_usb_scratch.sh
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ USB_SCRATCH_AUTO_SELECT_REMOVABLE=${USB_SCRATCH_AUTO_SELECT_REMOVABLE:-true}
 USB_SCRATCH_AUTO_MIN_SIZE_GIB=${USB_SCRATCH_AUTO_MIN_SIZE_GIB:-50}
 USB_SCRATCH_AUTO_FORMAT_REMOVABLE=${USB_SCRATCH_AUTO_FORMAT_REMOVABLE:-true}
 USB_SCRATCH_AUTO_FORMAT_LABEL=${USB_SCRATCH_AUTO_FORMAT_LABEL:-astraios}
+USB_SCRATCH_SEED_K3S_AGENT_DIRS=${USB_SCRATCH_SEED_K3S_AGENT_DIRS:-false}
 USB_SCRATCH_REQUIRED_FREE_GIB=${USB_SCRATCH_REQUIRED_FREE_GIB:-20}
 USB_SCRATCH_RECONCILE_INTERVAL_SEC=${USB_SCRATCH_RECONCILE_INTERVAL_SEC:-900}
 USB_SCRATCH_CUTOVER_JITTER_MAX_SEC=${USB_SCRATCH_CUTOVER_JITTER_MAX_SEC:-900}
@@ -103,6 +104,7 @@ load_config() {
   USB_SCRATCH_AUTO_MIN_SIZE_GIB=${USB_SCRATCH_AUTO_MIN_SIZE_GIB:-50}
   USB_SCRATCH_AUTO_FORMAT_REMOVABLE=${USB_SCRATCH_AUTO_FORMAT_REMOVABLE:-true}
   USB_SCRATCH_AUTO_FORMAT_LABEL=${USB_SCRATCH_AUTO_FORMAT_LABEL:-astraios}
+  USB_SCRATCH_SEED_K3S_AGENT_DIRS=${USB_SCRATCH_SEED_K3S_AGENT_DIRS:-false}
   USB_SCRATCH_REQUIRED_FREE_GIB=${USB_SCRATCH_REQUIRED_FREE_GIB:-20}
   USB_SCRATCH_RECONCILE_INTERVAL_SEC=${USB_SCRATCH_RECONCILE_INTERVAL_SEC:-900}
   USB_SCRATCH_CUTOVER_JITTER_MAX_SEC=${USB_SCRATCH_CUTOVER_JITTER_MAX_SEC:-900}
@@ -385,6 +387,17 @@ seed_target_data() {
   host_sh "mkdir -p '${source_dir}' '${target}'; if command -v rsync >/dev/null 2>&1; then rsync -aHAX --numeric-ids '${target}/' '${source_dir}/'; else tar -C '${target}' -cf - . | tar -C '${source_dir}' -xf -; fi"
 }
 
+should_seed_target() {
+  local target="$1"
+  case "${target}" in
+    /var/lib/rancher/k3s/agent/containerd|/var/lib/rancher/k3s/agent/kubelet|/var/lib/rancher/k3s/agent/images)
+      [ "${USB_SCRATCH_SEED_K3S_AGENT_DIRS}" = "true" ]
+      return
+      ;;
+  esac
+  return 0
+}
+
 mount_target_live() {
   local target="$1"
   host_sh "mountpoint -q '${target}' || mount '${target}'"
@@ -422,8 +435,12 @@ perform_cutover() {
 
   for target in "${TARGET_PATHS[@]}"; do
     if ! target_bound_to_scratch "${target}"; then
-      log "seeding ${target} into ${USB_SCRATCH_MOUNTPOINT}${target}"
-      seed_target_data "${target}"
+      if should_seed_target "${target}"; then
+        log "seeding ${target} into ${USB_SCRATCH_MOUNTPOINT}${target}"
+        seed_target_data "${target}"
+      else
+        log "skipping seed for ${target}; binding fresh Astraios path"
+      fi
       log "mounting bind target ${target}"
       mount_target_live "${target}"
     fi