diff --git a/extra/mariabackup/xtrabackup.cc b/extra/mariabackup/xtrabackup.cc
index 1b5e28bb257..e0013979901 100644
--- a/extra/mariabackup/xtrabackup.cc
+++ b/extra/mariabackup/xtrabackup.cc
@@ -5510,10 +5510,10 @@ xtrabackup_prepare_func(char** argv)
 	else {
 		xb_process_datadir(".", ".new", prepare_handle_new_files);
 	}
-	xb_process_datadir(xtrabackup_incremental_dir? xtrabackup_incremental_dir:".",
-		".ren", prepare_handle_ren_files);
 	xb_process_datadir(xtrabackup_incremental_dir ? xtrabackup_incremental_dir : ".",
 		".del", prepare_handle_del_files);
+	xb_process_datadir(xtrabackup_incremental_dir? xtrabackup_incremental_dir:".",
+		".ren", prepare_handle_ren_files);
 
 
 	int argc; for (argc = 0; argv[argc]; argc++) {}
diff --git a/mysql-test/suite/mariabackup/drop_table_during_backup.result b/mysql-test/suite/mariabackup/drop_table_during_backup.result
index 1472ddbddcf..8a77945e586 100644
--- a/mysql-test/suite/mariabackup/drop_table_during_backup.result
+++ b/mysql-test/suite/mariabackup/drop_table_during_backup.result
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 CREATE TABLE t1 (i int) ENGINE=INNODB;
 CREATE TABLE t2 (i int) ENGINE=INNODB;
 CREATE TABLE t3 (i int) ENGINE=INNODB;
+CREATE TABLE t4 (i int) ENGINE=INNODB;
+CREATE TABLE t5 (i int) ENGINE=INNODB;
 # xtrabackup prepare
 # shutdown server
 # remove datadir
@@ -11,3 +13,6 @@ DROP TABLE t1;
 CREATE TABLE t2(i int);
 DROP TABLE t2;
 DROP TABLE t3;
+CREATE TABLE t4(i int);
+DROP TABLE t4;
+DROP TABLE t5;
diff --git a/mysql-test/suite/mariabackup/drop_table_during_backup.test b/mysql-test/suite/mariabackup/drop_table_during_backup.test
index 02c7710145b..e3a81b77b71 100644
--- a/mysql-test/suite/mariabackup/drop_table_during_backup.test
+++ b/mysql-test/suite/mariabackup/drop_table_during_backup.test
@@ -3,8 +3,14 @@ let $targetdir=$MYSQLTEST_VARDIR/tmp/backup;
 CREATE TABLE t1 (i int) ENGINE=INNODB;
 CREATE TABLE t2 (i int) ENGINE=INNODB;
 CREATE TABLE t3 (i int) ENGINE=INNODB;
+CREATE TABLE t4 (i int) ENGINE=INNODB;
+CREATE TABLE t5 (i int) ENGINE=INNODB;
+
 --let before_copy_test_t1=DROP TABLE test.t1
 --let after_copy_test_t2=DROP TABLE test.t2;
+# MDEV-18185, drop + rename combination
+--let after_copy_test_t5=BEGIN NOT ATOMIC DROP TABLE test.t5; RENAME TABLE test.t4 TO test.t5; END
+
 --disable_result_log
 exec $XTRABACKUP --defaults-file=$MYSQLTEST_VARDIR/my.cnf --backup --target-dir=$targetdir --dbug=+d,mariabackup_events;
 --enable_result_log
@@ -21,4 +27,7 @@ DROP TABLE t1;
 CREATE TABLE t2(i int);
 DROP TABLE t2;
 DROP TABLE t3;
+CREATE TABLE t4(i int);
+DROP TABLE t4;
+DROP TABLE t5;
 rmdir $targetdir;