diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index e89ca4190c..ac4c010fae 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
  * CQL3: support pre-epoch longs for TimestampType (CASSANDRA-6212)
  * Add reloadtriggers command to nodetool (CASSANDRA-4949)
  * cqlsh: ignore empty 'value alias' in DESCRIBE (CASSANDRA-6139)
+ * Fix sstable loader (CASSANDRA-6205)
 Merged from 1.2:
  * (Hadoop) Require CFRR batchSize to be at least 2 (CASSANDRA-6114)
  * Add a warning for small LCS sstable size (CASSANDRA-6191)
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/io/sstable/SSTableReader.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/io/sstable/SSTableReader.java
index cb0873dfa7..9837f4c7ca 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/io/sstable/SSTableReader.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/io/sstable/SSTableReader.java
@@ -36,10 +36,7 @@ import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 import org.apache.cassandra.cache.InstrumentingCache;
 import org.apache.cassandra.cache.KeyCacheKey;
 import org.apache.cassandra.concurrent.DebuggableThreadPoolExecutor;
-import org.apache.cassandra.config.CFMetaData;
-import org.apache.cassandra.config.ColumnDefinition;
-import org.apache.cassandra.config.DatabaseDescriptor;
-import org.apache.cassandra.config.Schema;
+import org.apache.cassandra.config.*;
 import org.apache.cassandra.db.*;
 import org.apache.cassandra.db.columniterator.OnDiskAtomIterator;
 import org.apache.cassandra.db.commitlog.ReplayPosition;
@@ -327,8 +324,9 @@ public class SSTableReader extends SSTable implements Closeable
 
         deletingTask = new SSTableDeletingTask(this);
 
-        // Don't track read rates for tables in the system keyspace
-        if (Keyspace.SYSTEM_KS.equals(desc.ksname))
+        // Don't track read rates for tables in the system keyspace and don't bother trying to load or persist
+        // the read meter when in client mode
+        if (Keyspace.SYSTEM_KS.equals(desc.ksname) || Config.isClientMode())
         {
             readMeter = null;
             return;