diff --git a/src/api2/admin/datastore.rs b/src/api2/admin/datastore.rs
index 5d3e6465..ebba7a43 100644
--- a/src/api2/admin/datastore.rs
+++ b/src/api2/admin/datastore.rs
@@ -314,7 +314,7 @@ fn prune(
 
         let list = group.list_backups(&datastore.base_path())?;
 
-        let remove_list = BackupGroup::compute_prune_list(
+        let mut prune_info = BackupGroup::compute_prune_info(
             list,
             param["keep-last"].as_u64(),
             param["keep-daily"].as_u64(),
@@ -323,9 +323,15 @@ fn prune(
             param["keep-yearly"].as_u64(),
         )?;
 
-        for info in remove_list {
-            worker.log(format!("remove {:?}", info.backup_dir));
-            datastore.remove_backup_dir(&info.backup_dir)?;
+        prune_info.reverse(); // delete older snapshots first
+
+        for (info, keep) in prune_info {
+            if keep {
+                worker.log(format!("keep {:?}", info.backup_dir.relative_path()));
+            } else {
+                worker.log(format!("remove {:?}", info.backup_dir.relative_path()));
+                datastore.remove_backup_dir(&info.backup_dir)?;
+            }
         }
 
         Ok(())
diff --git a/src/backup/backup_info.rs b/src/backup/backup_info.rs
index 8562635d..f17d4646 100644
--- a/src/backup/backup_info.rs
+++ b/src/backup/backup_info.rs
@@ -128,14 +128,14 @@ impl BackupGroup {
         }
     }
 
-    pub fn compute_prune_list(
+    pub fn compute_prune_info(
         mut list: Vec<BackupInfo>,
         keep_last: Option<u64>,
         keep_daily: Option<u64>,
         keep_weekly: Option<u64>,
         keep_monthly: Option<u64>,
         keep_yearly: Option<u64>,
-    ) -> Result<Vec<BackupInfo>, Error> {
+    ) -> Result<Vec<(BackupInfo, bool)>, Error> {
 
         let mut mark = HashMap::new();
 
@@ -190,19 +190,18 @@ impl BackupGroup {
             });
         }
 
-        let mut remove_list: Vec<BackupInfo> = list.into_iter()
-            .filter(|info| {
+        let prune_info: Vec<(BackupInfo, bool)> = list.into_iter()
+            .map(|info| {
                 let backup_id = info.backup_dir.relative_path();
-                match mark.get(&backup_id) {
-                    Some(PruneMark::Keep) => false,
-                    _ => true,
-                }
+                let keep = match mark.get(&backup_id) {
+                    Some(PruneMark::Keep) => true,
+                    _ => false,
+                };
+                (info, keep)
             })
             .collect();
 
-        BackupInfo::sort_list(&mut remove_list, true);
-
-        Ok(remove_list)
+        Ok(prune_info)
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/prune.rs b/tests/prune.rs
index 15c55914..46101608 100644
--- a/tests/prune.rs
+++ b/tests/prune.rs
@@ -14,12 +14,20 @@ fn get_prune_list(
     keep_yearly: Option<u64>,
 ) -> Vec<PathBuf> {
 
-    let remove_list = BackupGroup::compute_prune_list(
+   let mut prune_info = BackupGroup::compute_prune_info(
         list, keep_last, keep_daily, keep_weekly, keep_monthly, keep_yearly).unwrap();
 
-    remove_list
+    prune_info.reverse();
+    
+    prune_info
         .iter()
-        .map(|d| d.backup_dir.relative_path())
+        .filter_map(|(info, keep)| {
+            if *keep {
+                None
+            } else {
+                Some(info.backup_dir.relative_path())
+            }
+        })
         .collect()
 }