diff --git a/src/bin/pg_upgrade/check.c b/src/bin/pg_upgrade/check.c
new file mode 100644
index 168058a..0c845b7
*** a/src/bin/pg_upgrade/check.c
--- b/src/bin/pg_upgrade/check.c
*************** static void check_for_tables_with_oids(C
*** 27,32 ****
--- 27,33 ----
  static void check_for_reg_data_type_usage(ClusterInfo *cluster);
  static void check_for_jsonb_9_4_usage(ClusterInfo *cluster);
  static void check_for_pg_role_prefix(ClusterInfo *cluster);
+ static void check_for_new_tablespace_dir(ClusterInfo *new_cluster);
  static char *get_canonical_locale_name(int category, const char *locale);
  
  
*************** check_new_cluster(void)
*** 187,192 ****
--- 188,195 ----
  	check_is_install_user(&new_cluster);
  
  	check_for_prepared_transactions(&new_cluster);
+ 
+ 	check_for_new_tablespace_dir(&new_cluster);
  }
  
  
*************** create_script_for_cluster_analyze(char *
*** 528,533 ****
--- 531,568 ----
  
  
  /*
+  * Check that tablespace directories do not already exist for new cluster.
+  * If they do, it would cause an error while restoring global objects.
+  * This allows the failure to be detected at check time, rather than
+  * during schema restore.
+  *
+  * Note, v8.4 has no tablespace_suffix, which is fine as long as the new
+  * cluster version has a suffix.
+  */
+ static void
+ check_for_new_tablespace_dir(ClusterInfo *new_cluster)
+ {
+ 	char	new_tablespace_dir[MAXPGPATH];
+ 
+  	prep_status("Checking for new cluster tablespace directories");
+ 
+ 	for (int tblnum = 0; tblnum < os_info.num_old_tablespaces; tblnum++)
+ 	{
+ 		struct stat statbuf;
+ 
+ 		snprintf(new_tablespace_dir, MAXPGPATH, "%s%s",
+ 				os_info.old_tablespaces[tblnum],
+ 				new_cluster->tablespace_suffix);
+ 
+ 		if (stat(new_tablespace_dir, &statbuf) == 0 || errno != ENOENT)
+ 			pg_fatal("new cluster tablespace directory already exists: \"%s\"\n",
+ 					 new_tablespace_dir);
+ 	}
+ 
+ 	check_ok();
+ }
+ 
+ /*
   * create_script_for_old_cluster_deletion()
   *
   *	This is particularly useful for tablespace deletion.