diff --git a/test/helpers/seed.ts b/test/helpers/seed.ts
index 683e0c4fb..73db42710 100644
--- a/test/helpers/seed.ts
+++ b/test/helpers/seed.ts
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 import fs from 'fs'
+import * as os from 'node:os'
 import path from 'path'
 import { type Payload } from 'payload'
 
 import { isMongoose } from './isMongoose.js'
 import { resetDB } from './reset.js'
-import { createSnapshot, dbSnapshot, restoreFromSnapshot } from './snapshot.js'
+import { createSnapshot, dbSnapshot, restoreFromSnapshot, uploadsDirCache } from './snapshot.js'
 
 type SeedFunction = (_payload: Payload) => Promise<void>
 
@@ -14,8 +15,13 @@ export async function seedDB({
   seedFunction,
   snapshotKey,
   uploadsDir,
+  /**
+   * Always seeds, instead of restoring from snapshot for consecutive test runs
+   */
+  alwaysSeed = false,
 }: {
   _payload: Payload
+  alwaysSeed?: boolean
   collectionSlugs: string[]
   seedFunction: SeedFunction
   /**
@@ -28,6 +34,25 @@ export async function seedDB({
    * Reset database
    */
   await resetDB(_payload, collectionSlugs)
+  /**
+   * Delete uploads directory if it exists
+   */
+  if (uploadsDir) {
+    try {
+      // Attempt to clear the uploads directory if it exists
+      await fs.promises.access(uploadsDir)
+      const files = await fs.promises.readdir(uploadsDir)
+      for (const file of files) {
+        await fs.promises.rm(path.join(uploadsDir, file))
+      }
+    } catch (error) {
+      if (error.code !== 'ENOENT') {
+        // If the error is not because the directory doesn't exist
+        console.error('Error in operation (deleting uploads dir):', error)
+        throw error
+      }
+    }
+  }
 
   /**
    * Mongoose & Postgres: Restore snapshot of old data if available
@@ -36,8 +61,40 @@ export async function seedDB({
    * This does not work if I run payload.db.init or payload.db.connect anywhere. Thus, when resetting the database, we are not dropping the schema, but are instead only deleting the table values
    */
   let restored = false
-  if (dbSnapshot[snapshotKey] && Object.keys(dbSnapshot[snapshotKey]).length) {
+  if (!alwaysSeed && dbSnapshot[snapshotKey] && Object.keys(dbSnapshot[snapshotKey]).length) {
     await restoreFromSnapshot(_payload, snapshotKey, collectionSlugs)
+
+    /**
+     * Restore uploads dir if it exists
+     */
+    if (uploadsDir && fs.existsSync(uploadsDirCache.path)) {
+      // move all files from inside uploadsDirCacheFolder to uploadsDir
+      await fs.promises
+        .readdir(uploadsDirCache.path, { withFileTypes: true })
+        .then(async (files) => {
+          for (const file of files) {
+            if (file.isDirectory()) {
+              await fs.promises.mkdir(path.join(uploadsDir, file.name), {
+                recursive: true,
+              })
+              await fs.promises.copyFile(
+                path.join(uploadsDirCache.path, file.name),
+                path.join(uploadsDir, file.name),
+              )
+            } else {
+              await fs.promises.copyFile(
+                path.join(uploadsDirCache.path, file.name),
+                path.join(uploadsDir, file.name),
+              )
+            }
+          }
+        })
+        .catch((err) => {
+          console.error('Error in operation (restoring uploads dir):', err)
+          throw err
+        })
+    }
+
     restored = true
   }
 
@@ -49,6 +106,7 @@ export async function seedDB({
   if (isMongoose(_payload)) {
     await Promise.all([
       ...collectionSlugs.map(async (collectionSlug) => {
+        // @ts-expect-error TODO: Type this better
         await _payload.db.collections[collectionSlug].createIndexes()
       }),
     ])
@@ -61,33 +119,53 @@ export async function seedDB({
     return
   }
 
-  /**
-   * Delete uploads directory only if no snapshot was restored.
-   * The snapshot restoration only restores the database state, not the uploads directory.
-   * If we ran it after or before restoring the snapshot, we would have NO upload files anymore, as they are not restored from the snapshot. And after snapshot
-   * restoration the seed process is not run again
-   */
-  if (uploadsDir) {
-    try {
-      // Attempt to clear the uploads directory if it exists
-      await fs.promises.access(uploadsDir)
-      const files = await fs.promises.readdir(uploadsDir)
-      for (const file of files) {
-        await fs.promises.rm(path.join(uploadsDir, file))
-      }
-    } catch (error) {
-      if (error.code !== 'ENOENT') {
-        // If the error is not because the directory doesn't exist
-        console.error('Error in operation:', error)
-        throw error
-      }
-    }
-  }
-
   /**
    * Seed the database with data and save it to a snapshot
    **/
   await seedFunction(_payload)
 
-  await createSnapshot(_payload, snapshotKey, collectionSlugs)
+  if (!alwaysSeed) {
+    await createSnapshot(_payload, snapshotKey, collectionSlugs)
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Cache uploads dir to a cache folder if uploadsDir exists
+   */
+  if (!alwaysSeed && uploadsDir && fs.existsSync(uploadsDir)) {
+    if (!uploadsDirCache.path) {
+      // Define new cache folder path to the OS temp directory (well a random folder inside it)
+      uploadsDirCache.path = path.join(os.tmpdir(), `payload-e2e-tests-uploads-cache`)
+    }
+
+    // delete the cache folder if it exists
+    if (fs.existsSync(uploadsDirCache.path)) {
+      await fs.promises.rm(uploadsDirCache.path, { recursive: true })
+    }
+    await fs.promises.mkdir(uploadsDirCache.path, { recursive: true })
+    // recursively move all files and directories from uploadsDir to uploadsDirCacheFolder
+    await fs.promises
+      .readdir(uploadsDir, { withFileTypes: true })
+      .then(async (files) => {
+        for (const file of files) {
+          if (file.isDirectory()) {
+            await fs.promises.mkdir(path.join(uploadsDirCache.path, file.name), {
+              recursive: true,
+            })
+            await fs.promises.copyFile(
+              path.join(uploadsDir, file.name),
+              path.join(uploadsDirCache.path, file.name),
+            )
+          } else {
+            await fs.promises.copyFile(
+              path.join(uploadsDir, file.name),
+              path.join(uploadsDirCache.path, file.name),
+            )
+          }
+        }
+      })
+      .catch((err) => {
+        console.error('Error in operation (creating snapshot of uploads dir):', err)
+        throw err
+      })
+  }
 }
diff --git a/test/helpers/snapshot.ts b/test/helpers/snapshot.ts
index 1b8f83d17..75844fdb8 100644
--- a/test/helpers/snapshot.ts
+++ b/test/helpers/snapshot.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,11 @@ import { sql } from 'drizzle-orm'
 
 import { isMongoose } from './isMongoose.js'
 
+export const uploadsDirCache: {
+  path: null | string
+} = {
+  path: null,
+}
 export const dbSnapshot = {}
 
 async function createMongooseSnapshot(collectionsObj, snapshotKey: string) {