diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/storage/DiskBlockManager.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/storage/DiskBlockManager.scala
index 2ec46d416f37..673fc19c060a 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/storage/DiskBlockManager.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/storage/DiskBlockManager.scala
@@ -44,6 +44,10 @@ private[spark] class DiskBlockManager(shuffleManager: ShuffleBlockManager, rootD
    * directory, create multiple subdirectories that we will hash files into, in order to avoid
    * having really large inodes at the top level. */
   private val localDirs: Array[File] = createLocalDirs()
+  if (localDirs.isEmpty) {
+    logError("Failed to create any local dir.")
+    System.exit(ExecutorExitCode.DISK_STORE_FAILED_TO_CREATE_DIR)
+  }
   private val subDirs = Array.fill(localDirs.length)(new Array[File](subDirsPerLocalDir))
   private var shuffleSender : ShuffleSender = null
 
@@ -116,7 +120,7 @@ private[spark] class DiskBlockManager(shuffleManager: ShuffleBlockManager, rootD
   private def createLocalDirs(): Array[File] = {
     logDebug(s"Creating local directories at root dirs '$rootDirs'")
     val dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyyMMddHHmmss")
-    rootDirs.split(",").map { rootDir =>
+    rootDirs.split(",").flatMap { rootDir =>
       var foundLocalDir = false
       var localDir: File = null
       var localDirId: String = null
@@ -136,11 +140,13 @@ private[spark] class DiskBlockManager(shuffleManager: ShuffleBlockManager, rootD
         }
       }
       if (!foundLocalDir) {
-        logError(s"Failed $MAX_DIR_CREATION_ATTEMPTS attempts to create local dir in $rootDir")
-        System.exit(ExecutorExitCode.DISK_STORE_FAILED_TO_CREATE_DIR)
+        logError(s"Failed $MAX_DIR_CREATION_ATTEMPTS attempts to create local dir in $rootDir." +
+                  " Ignoring this directory.")
+        None
+      } else {
+        logInfo(s"Created local directory at $localDir")
+        Some(localDir)
       }
-      logInfo(s"Created local directory at $localDir")
-      localDir
     }
   }