diff --git a/airbyte-cdk/bulk/toolkits/load-object-storage/src/main/kotlin/io/airbyte/cdk/load/state/object_storage/ObjectStorageDestinationStateManager.kt b/airbyte-cdk/bulk/toolkits/load-object-storage/src/main/kotlin/io/airbyte/cdk/load/state/object_storage/ObjectStorageDestinationStateManager.kt
index 2a6dd6e296b0..a8d608b16b59 100644
--- a/airbyte-cdk/bulk/toolkits/load-object-storage/src/main/kotlin/io/airbyte/cdk/load/state/object_storage/ObjectStorageDestinationStateManager.kt
+++ b/airbyte-cdk/bulk/toolkits/load-object-storage/src/main/kotlin/io/airbyte/cdk/load/state/object_storage/ObjectStorageDestinationStateManager.kt
@@ -31,7 +31,8 @@ import kotlinx.coroutines.sync.withLock
 class ObjectStorageDestinationState(
     // (State -> (GenerationId -> (Key -> PartNumber)))
     @JsonProperty("generations_by_state")
-    var generationMap: ConcurrentHashMap<State, ConcurrentHashMap<Long, MutableMap<String, Long>>> =
+    var generationMap:
+        ConcurrentHashMap<State, ConcurrentHashMap<Long, ConcurrentHashMap<String, Long>>> =
         ConcurrentHashMap(),
     @JsonProperty("count_by_key") var countByKey: MutableMap<String, Long> = mutableMapOf()
 ) : DestinationState {
@@ -188,37 +189,39 @@ class ObjectStorageFallbackPersister(
             "Searching path $longestUnambiguous (matching ${matcher.regex}) for destination state metadata"
         }
         val matches = client.list(longestUnambiguous).mapNotNull { matcher.match(it.key) }.toList()
+
+        /* Initialize the unique key counts. */
         val countByKey = mutableMapOf<String, Long>()
         matches.forEach {
             val key = it.path.replace(Regex("-[0-9]+$"), "")
             val ordinal = it.customSuffix?.substring(1)?.toLongOrNull() ?: 0
             countByKey.merge(key, ordinal) { a, b -> maxOf(a, b) }
         }
-        matches
-            .groupBy {
-                client
-                    .getMetadata(it.path)[ObjectStorageDestinationState.METADATA_GENERATION_ID_KEY]
-                    ?.toLong()
-                    ?: 0L
-            }
-            .mapValues { (_, matches) ->
-                matches.associate { it.path to (it.partNumber ?: 0L) }.toMutableMap()
-            }
-            .toMutableMap()
-            .let {
-                val generationSizes = it.map { gen -> gen.key to gen.value.size }
-                log.info {
-                    "Inferred state for generations with size: $generationSizes (minimum=${stream.minimumGenerationId}; current=${stream.generationId})"
-                }
-                return ObjectStorageDestinationState(
-                    ConcurrentHashMap(
-                        mutableMapOf(
-                            ObjectStorageDestinationState.State.FINALIZED to ConcurrentHashMap(it)
-                        )
-                    ),
-                    countByKey
+
+        /* Build (generationId -> (key -> fileNumber)). */
+        val generationIdToKeyAndFileNumber =
+            ConcurrentHashMap(
+                matches
+                    .groupBy {
+                        client
+                            .getMetadata(it.path)[
+                                ObjectStorageDestinationState.METADATA_GENERATION_ID_KEY]
+                            ?.toLong()
+                            ?: 0L
+                    }
+                    .mapValues { (_, matches) ->
+                        ConcurrentHashMap(matches.associate { it.path to (it.partNumber ?: 0L) })
+                    }
+            )
+
+        return ObjectStorageDestinationState(
+            ConcurrentHashMap(
+                mapOf(
+                    ObjectStorageDestinationState.State.FINALIZED to generationIdToKeyAndFileNumber
                 )
-            }
+            ),
+            countByKey
+        )
     }
 
     override suspend fun persist(stream: DestinationStream, state: ObjectStorageDestinationState) {
diff --git a/airbyte-integrations/connectors/destination-s3/metadata.yaml b/airbyte-integrations/connectors/destination-s3/metadata.yaml
index 78e246bb1cf0..b9a9262120a8 100644
--- a/airbyte-integrations/connectors/destination-s3/metadata.yaml
+++ b/airbyte-integrations/connectors/destination-s3/metadata.yaml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ data:
   connectorSubtype: file
   connectorType: destination
   definitionId: 4816b78f-1489-44c1-9060-4b19d5fa9362
-  dockerImageTag: 1.5.0-rc.5
+  dockerImageTag: 1.5.0-rc.6
   dockerRepository: airbyte/destination-s3
   githubIssueLabel: destination-s3
   icon: s3.svg
diff --git a/docs/integrations/destinations/s3.md b/docs/integrations/destinations/s3.md
index 0e566ffdfec8..b1ca0c234240 100644
--- a/docs/integrations/destinations/s3.md
+++ b/docs/integrations/destinations/s3.md
@@ -544,6 +544,7 @@ To see connector limitations, or troubleshoot your S3 connector, see more [in ou
 
 | Version    | Date       | Pull Request                                               | Subject                                                                                                                                              |
 |:-----------|:-----------|:-----------------------------------------------------------|:-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
+| 1.5.0-rc.6 | 2025-01-06 | [50954](https://github.com/airbytehq/airbyte/pull/50954)   | Bug fix: transient failure due to bug in generation tracker                                                                                          |
 | 1.5.0-rc.5 | 2025-01-06 | [50954](https://github.com/airbytehq/airbyte/pull/50954)   | Bug fix: transient failure due to bug in filename clash prevention                                                                                   |
 | 1.5.0-rc.4 | 2025-01-06 | [50954](https://github.com/airbytehq/airbyte/pull/50954)   | Bug fix: StreamLoader::close dispatched multiple times per stream                                                                                    |
 | 1.5.0-rc.3 | 2025-01-06 | [50949](https://github.com/airbytehq/airbyte/pull/50949)   | Bug fix: parquet types/values nested in union of objects do not convert properly                                                                     |