diff --git a/backup-status.sh b/backup-status.sh
index 0e0bb1d2dac4da1067eb9ee623ed29ba8071dc58..4bc09367a1a0e27b7c551ea4b561448ec8b55a38 100755
--- a/backup-status.sh
+++ b/backup-status.sh
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ do
                 # echo Age: $iAge s
                 if [ $iDays -lt 0 ]; then
                         color error
-                        echo "ERROR: Outdated backup was found! You can delete data for $myserver."
+                        echo "ERROR: Outdated backup was found! You can delete data for $myserver. rc=1"
                         color reset
                         iErrors=$iErrors+1
                 fi
diff --git a/storage_helper.sh b/storage_helper.sh
index 9b24df56785064841a0d8048d717273e2a636b51..0170d9c2ab7690a2b2ecaae1f2d7956a1c3f910a 100755
--- a/storage_helper.sh
+++ b/storage_helper.sh
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 # 2021-06-21  hahn  use single status file; added backup size
 # 2021-01-22  hahn  show inactive backups in status page; colored lines by status
 # 2021-11-12  hahn  backup status: add handling for backup exitcode
+# 2022-07-06  hahn  backup status: show clear message on not started/ deleted backups
 # ======================================================================
 
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -171,6 +172,7 @@
     function _getBackupsize(){
         local size=
         test -r "$sStatusDir/${sBackupClient}" && . "$sStatusDir/${sBackupClient}"
+        test -z "$size" && echo "[ no metadata: not started yet or deleted ]"
         echo $size
     }