diff --git a/debuggerd/tombstoned/tombstoned.rc b/debuggerd/tombstoned/tombstoned.rc
index eaae9c475..b8345cacf 100644
--- a/debuggerd/tombstoned/tombstoned.rc
+++ b/debuggerd/tombstoned/tombstoned.rc
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@ service tombstoned /system/bin/tombstoned
     user tombstoned
     group system
 
+    # Don't start tombstoned until after the real /data is mounted.
+    class late_start
+
     socket tombstoned_crash seqpacket 0666 system system
     socket tombstoned_intercept seqpacket 0666 system system
     writepid /dev/cpuset/system-background/tasks
diff --git a/rootdir/init.rc b/rootdir/init.rc
index 8d974fa12..d6ae6f0d9 100644
--- a/rootdir/init.rc
+++ b/rootdir/init.rc
@@ -359,9 +359,6 @@ on post-fs-data
     start vold
     installkey /data
 
-    # start tombstoned to record early-boot crashes.
-    start tombstoned
-
     # Start bootcharting as soon as possible after the data partition is
     # mounted to collect more data.
     mkdir /data/bootchart 0755 shell shell