diff --git a/db/post_migrate/20170717111152_cleanup_move_system_upload_folder_symlink.rb b/db/post_migrate/20170717111152_cleanup_move_system_upload_folder_symlink.rb
index 26b99b61424..c48f1c938d0 100644
--- a/db/post_migrate/20170717111152_cleanup_move_system_upload_folder_symlink.rb
+++ b/db/post_migrate/20170717111152_cleanup_move_system_upload_folder_symlink.rb
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ class CleanupMoveSystemUploadFolderSymlink < ActiveRecord::Migration
   def down
     if File.directory?(new_directory)
       say "Symlinking #{old_directory} -> #{new_directory}"
-      FileUtils.ln_s(new_directory, old_directory)
+      FileUtils.ln_s(new_directory, old_directory) unless File.exist?(old_directory)
     else
       say "#{new_directory} doesn't exist, skipping."
     end
diff --git a/spec/lib/gitlab/background_migration/populate_untracked_uploads_spec.rb b/spec/lib/gitlab/background_migration/populate_untracked_uploads_spec.rb
index 8590522f3ef..fb3f29ff4c9 100644
--- a/spec/lib/gitlab/background_migration/populate_untracked_uploads_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/lib/gitlab/background_migration/populate_untracked_uploads_spec.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
 require 'spec_helper'
 
-describe Gitlab::BackgroundMigration::PopulateUntrackedUploads, :sidekiq do
+# This migration is using UploadService, which sets uploads.secret that is only
+# added to the DB schema in 20180129193323. Since the test isn't isolated, we
+# just use the latest schema when testing this migration.
+# Ideally, the test should not use factories nor UploadService, and rely on the
+# `table` helper instead.
+describe Gitlab::BackgroundMigration::PopulateUntrackedUploads, :sidekiq, :migration, schema: 20180129193323 do
   include TrackUntrackedUploadsHelpers
 
   subject { described_class.new }
diff --git a/spec/migrations/rename_reserved_project_names_spec.rb b/spec/migrations/rename_reserved_project_names_spec.rb
index e6555b1fe6b..34336d705b1 100644
--- a/spec/migrations/rename_reserved_project_names_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/migrations/rename_reserved_project_names_spec.rb
@@ -3,10 +3,14 @@
 require 'spec_helper'
 require Rails.root.join('db', 'post_migrate', '20161221153951_rename_reserved_project_names.rb')
 
-# This migration uses multiple threads, and thus different transactions. This
-# means data created in this spec may not be visible to some threads. To work
-# around this we use the DELETE cleaning strategy.
-describe RenameReservedProjectNames, :delete do
+# This migration is using factories, which set fields that don't actually
+# exist in the DB schema previous to 20161221153951. Thus we just use the
+# latest schema when testing this migration.
+# This is ok-ish because:
+#   1. This migration is a data migration
+#   2. It only relies on very stable DB fields: routes.id, routes.path, namespaces.id, projects.namespace_id
+# Ideally, the test should not use factories and rely on the `table` helper instead.
+describe RenameReservedProjectNames, :migration, schema: :latest do
   let(:migration) { described_class.new }
   let!(:project) { create(:project) }
 
diff --git a/spec/support/migrations_helpers.rb b/spec/support/migrations_helpers.rb
index 06322aa0586..6bf976a2cf9 100644
--- a/spec/support/migrations_helpers.rb
+++ b/spec/support/migrations_helpers.rb
@@ -45,7 +45,13 @@ module MigrationsHelpers
   end
 
   def migration_schema_version
-    self.class.metadata[:schema] || previous_migration.version
+    metadata_schema = self.class.metadata[:schema]
+
+    if metadata_schema == :latest
+      migrations.last.version
+    else
+      metadata_schema || previous_migration.version
+    end
   end
 
   def schema_migrate_down!
@@ -58,6 +64,8 @@ module MigrationsHelpers
   end
 
   def schema_migrate_up!
+    reset_column_in_all_models
+
     disable_migrations_output do
       ActiveRecord::Migrator.migrate(migrations_paths)
     end