diff --git a/scripts/test-backwards.sh b/scripts/test-backwards.sh
index a9d7bb3e6..ab671ac66 100755
--- a/scripts/test-backwards.sh
+++ b/scripts/test-backwards.sh
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ if [[ "$1" == "upload" ]]; then
     }
     random_bytes_file "2KiB"   "$PRISTINE_FILES_DIR/small-upload-testfile"         # create 2kb file of random bytes (inline)
     random_bytes_file "5MiB"   "$PRISTINE_FILES_DIR/big-upload-testfile"           # create 5mb file of random bytes (remote)
-    random_bytes_file "65MiB"  "$PRISTINE_FILES_DIR/multisegment-upload-testfile"  # create 65mb file of random bytes (remote)
+    random_bytes_file "12MiB"  "$PRISTINE_FILES_DIR/multisegment-upload-testfile"  # create 12mb file of random bytes (remote)
 
     # sometimes we overwrite files in the same bucket. allow the mb to fail because of an existing
     # bucket. if it fails for any other reason, the following cp will get it anyway.
diff --git a/scripts/test-sim-backwards.sh b/scripts/test-sim-backwards.sh
index 3be8aae4c..a0e6d13a0 100755
--- a/scripts/test-sim-backwards.sh
+++ b/scripts/test-sim-backwards.sh
@@ -74,6 +74,14 @@ SCRIPTDIR="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" >/dev/null 2>&1 && pwd )"
 GOBIN="$RELEASE_DIR"/bin make -C "$RELEASE_DIR" install-sim
 GOBIN="$BRANCH_DIR"/bin  make -C "$BRANCH_DIR" install-sim
 
+echo "Overriding default max segment size to 6MiB"
+pushd $RELEASE_DIR
+    GOBIN=$RELEASE_DIR/bin go install -v -ldflags "-X 'storj.io/uplink.maxSegmentSize=6MiB'" storj.io/storj/cmd/uplink
+popd
+pushd $BRANCH_DIR
+    GOBIN=$BRANCH_DIR/bin go install -v -ldflags "-X 'storj.io/uplink.maxSegmentSize=6MiB'" storj.io/storj/cmd/uplink
+popd
+
 # setup the network using the release
 PATH="$RELEASE_DIR"/bin:"$PATH" storj-sim -x --host "$STORJ_NETWORK_HOST4" network --postgres="$STORJ_SIM_POSTGRES" setup