diff --git a/src/borg/cache.py b/src/borg/cache.py
index 297fb11a85..4d50fa2c00 100644
--- a/src/borg/cache.py
+++ b/src/borg/cache.py
@@ -396,7 +396,7 @@ def _build_files_cache(self):
         logger.debug("Building files cache ...")
         files_cache_logger.debug("FILES-CACHE-BUILD: starting...")
         archive = Archive(self.manifest, self.previous_archive_id)
-        for item in archive.iter_items(preload=True):
+        for item in archive.iter_items(preload=False):
             # only put regular files' infos into the files cache:
             if stat.S_ISREG(item.mode):
                 assert "chunks" in item  # TODO: is item.chunks ready?