diff --git a/pkg/util/workloadrepo/BUILD.bazel b/pkg/util/workloadrepo/BUILD.bazel
index b885213d5662a..65fbac6f8bbce 100644
--- a/pkg/util/workloadrepo/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/pkg/util/workloadrepo/BUILD.bazel
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ go_test(
     srcs = ["worker_test.go"],
     embed = [":workloadrepo"],
     flaky = True,
-    shard_count = 13,
+    shard_count = 14,
     deps = [
         "//pkg/domain",
         "//pkg/infoschema",
diff --git a/pkg/util/workloadrepo/const.go b/pkg/util/workloadrepo/const.go
index 6752ef473c17a..15868c0b63efa 100644
--- a/pkg/util/workloadrepo/const.go
+++ b/pkg/util/workloadrepo/const.go
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 package workloadrepo
 
 import (
+	"errors"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/pingcap/tidb/pkg/errno"
@@ -48,4 +49,6 @@ var (
 	errUnsupportedEtcdRequired = dbterror.ClassUtil.NewStdErr(errno.ErrNotSupportedYet, mysql.Message("etcd client required for workload repository", nil))
 	errWorkloadNotStarted      = dbterror.ClassUtil.NewStdErr(errno.ErrNotSupportedYet, mysql.Message("Workload repository is not enabled", nil))
 	errCouldNotStartSnapshot   = dbterror.ClassUtil.NewStdErr(errno.ErrUnknown, mysql.Message("Snapshot initiation failed", nil))
+
+	errKeyNotFound = errors.New("key not found")
 )
diff --git a/pkg/util/workloadrepo/snapshot.go b/pkg/util/workloadrepo/snapshot.go
index 6e25555ae1b75..8a9673e0d79d4 100644
--- a/pkg/util/workloadrepo/snapshot.go
+++ b/pkg/util/workloadrepo/snapshot.go
@@ -77,14 +77,28 @@ func (w *worker) etcdCAS(ctx context.Context, key, oval, nval string) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+func queryMaxSnapID(ctx context.Context, sctx sessionctx.Context) (uint64, error) {
+	query := sqlescape.MustEscapeSQL("SELECT MAX(`SNAP_ID`) FROM %n.%n", WorkloadSchema, histSnapshotsTable)
+	rs, err := runQuery(ctx, sctx, query)
+	if err != nil {
+		return 0, err
+	}
+	if len(rs) > 0 {
+		if rs[0].IsNull(0) {
+			return 0, nil
+		}
+		return rs[0].GetUint64(0), nil
+	}
+	return 0, errors.New("no rows returned when querying max snap id")
+}
+
 func (w *worker) getSnapID(ctx context.Context) (uint64, error) {
 	snapIDStr, err := w.etcdGet(ctx, snapIDKey)
 	if err != nil {
 		return 0, err
 	}
 	if snapIDStr == "" {
-		// return zero when the key does not exist
-		return 0, nil
+		return 0, errKeyNotFound
 	}
 	return strconv.ParseUint(snapIDStr, 10, 64)
 }
@@ -140,7 +154,12 @@ func (w *worker) takeSnapshot(ctx context.Context) (uint64, error) {
 	var snapID uint64
 	var err error
 	for range snapshotRetries {
+		isEmpty := false
 		snapID, err = w.getSnapID(ctx)
+		if stderrors.Is(err, errKeyNotFound) {
+			snapID, err = queryMaxSnapID(ctx, sess)
+			isEmpty = true
+		}
 		if err != nil {
 			err = fmt.Errorf("cannot get current snapid: %w", err)
 			continue
@@ -158,7 +177,7 @@ func (w *worker) takeSnapshot(ctx context.Context) (uint64, error) {
 			continue
 		}
 
-		if snapID == 0 {
+		if isEmpty {
 			err = w.etcdCreate(ctx, snapIDKey, strconv.FormatUint(snapID+1, 10))
 		} else {
 			err = w.etcdCAS(ctx, snapIDKey, strconv.FormatUint(snapID, 10), strconv.FormatUint(snapID+1, 10))
diff --git a/pkg/util/workloadrepo/worker_test.go b/pkg/util/workloadrepo/worker_test.go
index 50c44c0c89fc1..97272d8b5a33f 100644
--- a/pkg/util/workloadrepo/worker_test.go
+++ b/pkg/util/workloadrepo/worker_test.go
@@ -59,21 +59,7 @@ func setupWorkerForTest(ctx context.Context, etcdCli *clientv3.Client, dom *doma
 	return wrk
 }
 
-func setupDomainAndContext(t *testing.T) (context.Context, kv.Storage, *domain.Domain, string) {
-	ctx := context.Background()
-	ctx = kv.WithInternalSourceType(ctx, kv.InternalTxnOthers)
-	var cancel context.CancelFunc = nil
-	if ddl, ok := t.Deadline(); ok {
-		ctx, cancel = context.WithDeadline(ctx, ddl)
-	}
-	t.Cleanup(func() {
-		if cancel != nil {
-			cancel()
-		}
-	})
-
-	store, dom := testkit.CreateMockStoreAndDomain(t)
-
+func setupEtcd(t *testing.T) string {
 	cfg := embed.NewConfig()
 	cfg.Dir = t.TempDir()
 
@@ -97,7 +83,25 @@ func setupDomainAndContext(t *testing.T) (context.Context, kv.Storage, *domain.D
 		require.False(t, true, "server took too long to start")
 	}
 
-	return ctx, store, dom, embedEtcd.Clients[0].Addr().String()
+	return embedEtcd.Clients[0].Addr().String()
+}
+
+func setupDomainAndContext(t *testing.T) (context.Context, kv.Storage, *domain.Domain, string) {
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	ctx = kv.WithInternalSourceType(ctx, kv.InternalTxnOthers)
+	var cancel context.CancelFunc = nil
+	if ddl, ok := t.Deadline(); ok {
+		ctx, cancel = context.WithDeadline(ctx, ddl)
+	}
+	t.Cleanup(func() {
+		if cancel != nil {
+			cancel()
+		}
+	})
+
+	store, dom := testkit.CreateMockStoreAndDomain(t)
+	etcdAddr := setupEtcd(t)
+	return ctx, store, dom, etcdAddr
 }
 
 func setupWorker(ctx context.Context, t *testing.T, addr string, dom *domain.Domain, id string, testWorker bool) *worker {
@@ -857,3 +861,44 @@ func TestCalcNextTick(t *testing.T) {
 	require.True(t, calcNextTick(time.Date(2024, 12, 7, 2, 0, 0, 1, loc)) == time.Hour*24-time.Nanosecond)
 	require.True(t, calcNextTick(time.Date(2024, 12, 7, 1, 59, 59, 999999999, loc)) == time.Nanosecond)
 }
+
+func TestRecoverSnapID(t *testing.T) {
+	ctx, store, dom, addr := setupDomainAndContext(t)
+	worker := setupWorker(ctx, t, addr, dom, "worker1", true)
+	require.NoError(t, worker.setRepositoryDest(ctx, "table"))
+	now := time.Now()
+
+	require.Eventually(t, func() bool {
+		return worker.checkTablesExists(ctx, now)
+	}, time.Minute, time.Second)
+	tk := testkit.NewTestKit(t, store)
+	prevSnapID := uint64(0)
+	require.Eventually(t, func() bool {
+		res := tk.MustQuery("select max(snap_id) from workload_schema.hist_snapshots").Rows()
+		if len(res) == 0 || len(res[0]) == 0 {
+			return false
+		}
+		snapID, err := strconv.ParseUint(res[0][0].(string), 10, 64)
+		prevSnapID = snapID
+		return err == nil && snapID > 0
+	}, time.Minute, time.Second)
+	worker.stop()
+
+	etcd2 := setupEtcd(t)
+	worker2 := setupWorker(ctx, t, etcd2, dom, "worker2", true)
+	snapIDStr, err := worker2.etcdGet(ctx, snapIDKey)
+	require.Nil(t, err)
+	require.Equal(t, "", snapIDStr)
+
+	_, err = worker2.getSnapID(ctx)
+	require.EqualError(t, errKeyNotFound, err.Error())
+	newSnapID, err := queryMaxSnapID(ctx, worker2.getSessionWithRetry().(sessionctx.Context))
+	require.Nil(t, err)
+	require.Equal(t, prevSnapID, newSnapID)
+
+	require.NoError(t, worker2.setRepositoryDest(ctx, "table"))
+	require.Eventually(t, func() bool {
+		newSnapID, err = worker2.getSnapID(ctx)
+		return err == nil && newSnapID >= prevSnapID
+	}, time.Minute, time.Second)
+}