diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 56651891723..aa6e962b490 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 ## main / unreleased
 
+* [ENHANCEMENT] Make s3 backend readError logic more robust [#905](https://github.com/grafana/tempo/pull/905) (@wei840222)
 
 ## v1.1.0 / 2021-08-26
 
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 77fd9dc6f25..c395e320755 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/Azure/azure-pipeline-go v0.2.2
 	github.com/Azure/azure-storage-blob-go v0.8.0
 	github.com/alecthomas/kong v0.2.11
+	github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go v1.38.60
 	github.com/cespare/xxhash v1.1.0
 	github.com/cortexproject/cortex v1.10.1-0.20210816080356-090988c40f3e
 	github.com/cristalhq/hedgedhttp v0.6.0
diff --git a/tempodb/backend/s3/s3.go b/tempodb/backend/s3/s3.go
index 01e7a76d7d5..c7b7b2f41af 100644
--- a/tempodb/backend/s3/s3.go
+++ b/tempodb/backend/s3/s3.go
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/grafana/tempo/tempodb/backend/instrumentation"
 
+	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/service/s3"
 	log_util "github.com/cortexproject/cortex/pkg/util/log"
 	"github.com/cristalhq/hedgedhttp"
 	"github.com/go-kit/kit/log"
@@ -26,7 +27,6 @@ import (
 )
 
 const (
-	s3KeyDoesNotExist  = "The specified key does not exist."
 	uptoHedgedRequests = 2
 )
 
@@ -262,7 +262,7 @@ func (rw *readerWriter) readAll(ctx context.Context, name string) ([]byte, error
 
 func (rw *readerWriter) readAllWithObjInfo(ctx context.Context, name string) ([]byte, minio.ObjectInfo, error) {
 	reader, info, _, err := rw.hedgedCore.GetObject(ctx, rw.cfg.Bucket, name, minio.GetObjectOptions{})
-	if err != nil && err.Error() == s3KeyDoesNotExist {
+	if err != nil && minio.ToErrorResponse(err).Code == s3.ErrCodeNoSuchKey {
 		return nil, minio.ObjectInfo{}, backend.ErrDoesNotExist
 	} else if err != nil {
 		return nil, minio.ObjectInfo{}, errors.Wrap(err, "error fetching object from s3 backend")
@@ -359,9 +359,8 @@ func createCore(cfg *Config, hedge bool) (*minio.Core, error) {
 }
 
 func readError(err error) error {
-	if err != nil && err.Error() == s3KeyDoesNotExist {
+	if err != nil && minio.ToErrorResponse(err).Code == s3.ErrCodeNoSuchKey {
 		return backend.ErrDoesNotExist
 	}
-
 	return err
 }
diff --git a/tempodb/backend/s3/s3_test.go b/tempodb/backend/s3/s3_test.go
index eb1e7f2ee58..957c7e6dcd4 100644
--- a/tempodb/backend/s3/s3_test.go
+++ b/tempodb/backend/s3/s3_test.go
@@ -10,8 +10,10 @@ import (
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 
+	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/service/s3"
 	"github.com/cortexproject/cortex/pkg/util/flagext"
 	"github.com/grafana/tempo/tempodb/backend"
+	"github.com/minio/minio-go/v7"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 )
@@ -103,7 +105,9 @@ func fakeServer(t *testing.T, returnIn time.Duration, counter *int32) *httptest.
 }
 
 func TestReadError(t *testing.T) {
-	errA := fmt.Errorf(s3KeyDoesNotExist)
+	errA := minio.ErrorResponse{
+		Code: s3.ErrCodeNoSuchKey,
+	}
 	errB := readError(errA)
 	assert.Equal(t, backend.ErrDoesNotExist, errB)
 
diff --git a/vendor/modules.txt b/vendor/modules.txt
index f5a3fa7f39d..40d14725291 100644
--- a/vendor/modules.txt
+++ b/vendor/modules.txt
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ github.com/armon/go-metrics/prometheus
 # github.com/asaskevich/govalidator v0.0.0-20200907205600-7a23bdc65eef
 github.com/asaskevich/govalidator
 # github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go v1.38.60
+## explicit
 github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/aws
 github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/aws/arn
 github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/aws/awserr