diff --git a/lib/reduce/reduce.c b/lib/reduce/reduce.c
index 7874185ea..03ea2ca81 100644
--- a/lib/reduce/reduce.c
+++ b/lib/reduce/reduce.c
@@ -646,6 +646,8 @@ spdk_reduce_vol_init(struct spdk_reduce_vol_params *params,
 				 &init_ctx->backing_cb_args);
 }
 
+static void destroy_load_cb(void *cb_arg, struct spdk_reduce_vol *vol, int reduce_errno);
+
 static void
 _load_read_super_and_path_cpl(void *cb_arg, int reduce_errno)
 {
@@ -666,6 +668,18 @@ _load_read_super_and_path_cpl(void *cb_arg, int reduce_errno)
 		goto error;
 	}
 
+	/* If the cb_fn is destroy_load_cb, it means we are wanting to destroy this compress bdev.
+	 *  So don't bother getting the volume ready to use - invoke the callback immediately
+	 *  so destroy_load_cb can delete the metadata off of the block device and delete the
+	 *  persistent memory file if it exists.
+	 */
+	memcpy(vol->pm_file.path, load_ctx->path, sizeof(vol->pm_file.path));
+	if (load_ctx->cb_fn == (*destroy_load_cb)) {
+		load_ctx->cb_fn(load_ctx->cb_arg, vol, 0);
+		_init_load_cleanup(NULL, load_ctx);
+		return;
+	}
+
 	memcpy(&vol->params, &vol->backing_super->params, sizeof(vol->params));
 	vol->backing_io_units_per_chunk = vol->params.chunk_size / vol->params.backing_io_unit_size;
 	vol->logical_blocks_per_chunk = vol->params.chunk_size / vol->params.logical_block_size;
@@ -684,7 +698,6 @@ _load_read_super_and_path_cpl(void *cb_arg, int reduce_errno)
 		goto error;
 	}
 
-	memcpy(vol->pm_file.path, load_ctx->path, sizeof(vol->pm_file.path));
 	vol->pm_file.size = _get_pm_file_size(&vol->params);
 	vol->pm_file.pm_buf = pmem_map_file(vol->pm_file.path, 0, 0, 0, &mapped_len,
 					    &vol->pm_file.pm_is_pmem);