I ended up recreating the table. Started with Hive INSERT INTO SELECT then copying the files directly on HDFS. Sadly I didn't try to " MSCK REPAIR TABLE" (or I don't remember). So with the new table it looks all fine - probably the older table has the metadata messed up by the HDP upgrade & migration. So if someone else, somehow, gets here: 1. try "MSCK REPAIR TABLE" 2. try to create a new table over that location. 3. move / copy the data to a new table's location and "MSCK REPAIR TABLE" ... View more