diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/storage/dfs/DfsGarbageCollector.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/storage/dfs/DfsGarbageCollector.java
index 6027eadc4..76b36a416 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/storage/dfs/DfsGarbageCollector.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/storage/dfs/DfsGarbageCollector.java
@@ -46,12 +46,11 @@
 import static org.eclipse.jgit.storage.dfs.DfsObjDatabase.PackSource.GC;
 import static org.eclipse.jgit.storage.dfs.DfsObjDatabase.PackSource.UNREACHABLE_GARBAGE;
 import static org.eclipse.jgit.storage.pack.PackExt.BITMAP_INDEX;
-import static org.eclipse.jgit.storage.pack.PackExt.PACK;
 import static org.eclipse.jgit.storage.pack.PackExt.INDEX;
+import static org.eclipse.jgit.storage.pack.PackExt.PACK;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
-import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -69,6 +68,7 @@
 import org.eclipse.jgit.storage.dfs.DfsObjDatabase.PackSource;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.storage.file.PackIndex;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.storage.pack.PackConfig;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.storage.pack.PackExt;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.storage.pack.PackWriter;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.util.io.CountingOutputStream;
 
@@ -90,6 +90,8 @@ public class DfsGarbageCollector {
 
 	private PackConfig packConfig;
 
+	private long coalesceGarbageLimit = 50 << 20;
+
 	private Map<String, Ref> refsBefore;
 
 	private List<DfsPackFile> packsBefore;
@@ -139,6 +141,38 @@ public DfsGarbageCollector setPackConfig(PackConfig newConfig) {
 		return this;
 	}
 
+	/** @return garbage packs smaller than this size will be repacked. */
+	public long getCoalesceGarbageLimit() {
+		return coalesceGarbageLimit;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Set the byte size limit for garbage packs to be repacked.
+	 * <p>
+	 * Any UNREACHABLE_GARBAGE pack smaller than this limit will be repacked at
+	 * the end of the run. This allows the garbage collector to coalesce
+	 * unreachable objects into a single file.
+	 * <p>
+	 * If an UNREACHABLE_GARBAGE pack is already larger than this limit it will
+	 * be left alone by the garbage collector. This avoids unnecessary disk IO
+	 * reading and copying the objects.
+	 * <p>
+	 * If limit is set to 0 the UNREACHABLE_GARBAGE coalesce is disabled.<br>
+	 * If limit is set to {@link Long#MAX_VALUE}, everything is coalesced.
+	 * <p>
+	 * Keeping unreachable garbage prevents race conditions with repository
+	 * changes that may suddenly need an object whose only copy was stored in
+	 * the UNREACHABLE_GARBAGE pack.
+	 *
+	 * @param limit
+	 *            size in bytes.
+	 * @return {@code this}
+	 */
+	public DfsGarbageCollector setCoalesceGarbageLimit(long limit) {
+		coalesceGarbageLimit = limit;
+		return this;
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Create a single new pack file containing all of the live objects.
 	 * <p>
@@ -167,7 +201,7 @@ public boolean pack(ProgressMonitor pm) throws IOException {
 			objdb.clearCache();
 
 			refsBefore = repo.getAllRefs();
-			packsBefore = Arrays.asList(objdb.getPacks());
+			packsBefore = packsToRebuild();
 			if (packsBefore.isEmpty())
 				return true;
 
@@ -203,6 +237,19 @@ public boolean pack(ProgressMonitor pm) throws IOException {
 		}
 	}
 
+	private List<DfsPackFile> packsToRebuild() throws IOException {
+		DfsPackFile[] packs = objdb.getPacks();
+		List<DfsPackFile> out = new ArrayList<DfsPackFile>(packs.length);
+		for (DfsPackFile p : packs) {
+			DfsPackDescription d = p.getPackDescription();
+			if (d.getPackSource() != UNREACHABLE_GARBAGE)
+				out.add(p);
+			else if (d.getFileSize(PackExt.PACK) < coalesceGarbageLimit)
+				out.add(p);
+		}
+		return out;
+	}
+
 	/** @return all of the source packs that fed into this compaction. */
 	public List<DfsPackDescription> getSourcePacks() {
 		return toPrune();
@@ -264,9 +311,9 @@ private void packGarbage(ProgressMonitor pm) throws IOException {
 		PackWriter pw = newPackWriter();
 		try {
 			RevWalk pool = new RevWalk(ctx);
+			pm.beginTask("Finding garbage", (int) getObjectsBefore());
 			for (DfsPackFile oldPack : packsBefore) {
 				PackIndex oldIdx = oldPack.getPackIndex(ctx);
-				pm.beginTask("Finding garbage", (int) oldIdx.getObjectCount());
 				for (PackIndex.MutableEntry ent : oldIdx) {
 					pm.update(1);
 					ObjectId id = ent.toObjectId();
@@ -276,8 +323,8 @@ private void packGarbage(ProgressMonitor pm) throws IOException {
 					int type = oldPack.getObjectType(ctx, ent.getOffset());
 					pw.addObject(pool.lookupAny(id, type));
 				}
-				pm.endTask();
 			}
+			pm.endTask();
 			if (0 < pw.getObjectCount())
 				writePack(UNREACHABLE_GARBAGE, pw, pm);
 		} finally {