diff --git a/src/backend/providers/pegasus_metadata/PegasusFilter.cpp b/src/backend/providers/pegasus_metadata/PegasusFilter.cpp
index d8e50ab3d..15ec75cb7 100644
--- a/src/backend/providers/pegasus_metadata/PegasusFilter.cpp
+++ b/src/backend/providers/pegasus_metadata/PegasusFilter.cpp
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ void apply_filter(FileFilter& filter, SearchContext& sctx)
 
     const bool has_valid_regex = !filter.include.regex.pattern().isEmpty() && filter.include.regex.isValid();
     const bool needs_scan = !filter.include.extensions.empty() || has_valid_regex;
-    if (!needs_scan)
+    if (!AppSettings::general.verify_files || !needs_scan)
         return;
 
     constexpr auto entry_filters_files = QDir::Files | QDir::NoDotAndDotDot;
diff --git a/src/backend/providers/pegasus_metadata/PegasusProvider.cpp b/src/backend/providers/pegasus_metadata/PegasusProvider.cpp
index ed3b896e6..15a302dd2 100644
--- a/src/backend/providers/pegasus_metadata/PegasusProvider.cpp
+++ b/src/backend/providers/pegasus_metadata/PegasusProvider.cpp
@@ -44,6 +44,16 @@ std::vector<QString> find_metafiles_in(const QString& dir_path)
 
     std::vector<QString> result;
 
+    QDir dir(dir_path);
+
+    // look for standalone files first, to avoid reading the entire directory
+    if (dir.exists("metadata.pegasus.txt")) {
+        return { QDir::cleanPath(dir_path + QDir::separator() + "metadata.pegasus.txt") };
+    } else if (dir.exists("metadata.txt")) {
+        return { QDir::cleanPath(dir_path + QDir::separator() + "metadata.txt") };
+    }
+
+    // else look for wildcard metadata files
     QDirIterator dir_it(dir_path, dir_filters, dir_flags);
     while (dir_it.hasNext()) {
         dir_it.next();