diff --git a/tests/fate-update.sh b/tests/fate-update.sh
index 92eaaf5a6b..6c67f57f2f 100755
--- a/tests/fate-update.sh
+++ b/tests/fate-update.sh
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ do_sql(){
 }
 
 wget -q -O - "$FATE_DB_URL" | bunzip2 > "$FATE_DB"
-rm -rf "$ref"
 mkdir -p "$ref"
 exec 3>"$base/fate.mak"