diff --git a/apps/tagcache.c b/apps/tagcache.c
index 4ddf1d2d2d..91220a3517 100644
--- a/apps/tagcache.c
+++ b/apps/tagcache.c
@@ -3796,6 +3796,7 @@ static bool check_dir(const char *dirname)
     DIR *dir;
     int len;
     int success = false;
+    char newpath[MAX_PATH];
 
     dir = opendir(dirname);
     if (!dir)
@@ -3804,6 +3805,15 @@ static bool check_dir(const char *dirname)
         return false;
     }
     
+    /* check for a database.ignore file */
+    snprintf(newpath, MAX_PATH, "%s/database.ignore", dirname);
+    len = open(newpath, O_RDONLY);
+    if (len >= 0)
+    {
+        close(len);
+        return false;
+    }
+    
     /* Recursively scan the dir. */
 #ifdef __PCTOOL__
     while (1)
diff --git a/tools/buildzip.pl b/tools/buildzip.pl
index e384eb8bd7..af87be07dc 100755
--- a/tools/buildzip.pl
+++ b/tools/buildzip.pl
@@ -186,7 +186,9 @@ sub buildzip {
         # always disable fonts on non-bitmap targets
         $fonts = 0;
     }
-
+    # create the file so the database does not try indexing a folder
+    `touch .rockbox/database.ignore`;
+    
     if($fonts) {
         mkdir ".rockbox/fonts", 0777;