diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
index 15760889fde..cc8a69e585b 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
@@ -429,6 +429,9 @@ Release 2.7.0 - UNRELEASED
     HDFS-7411. Change decommission logic to throttle by blocks rather than
     nodes in each interval. (Andrew Wang via cdouglas)
 
+    HDFS-7898. Change TestAppendSnapshotTruncate to fail-fast.
+    (Tsz Wo Nicholas Sze via jing9)
+
   OPTIMIZATIONS
 
     HDFS-7454. Reduce memory footprint for AclEntries in NameNode.
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/TestAppendSnapshotTruncate.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/TestAppendSnapshotTruncate.java
index 5c4c7b4a279..e80e14f5655 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/TestAppendSnapshotTruncate.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/TestAppendSnapshotTruncate.java
@@ -41,10 +41,6 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.fs.FSDataOutputStream;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.FileStatus;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.FileUtil;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Path;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.DFSConfigKeys;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.DFSUtil;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.DistributedFileSystem;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.HdfsConfiguration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.namenode.NameNode;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.namenode.TestFileTruncate;
 import org.apache.hadoop.test.GenericTestUtils;
@@ -69,6 +65,9 @@ public class TestAppendSnapshotTruncate {
   private static final int BLOCK_SIZE = 1024;
   private static final int DATANODE_NUM = 3;
   private static final short REPLICATION = 3;
+  private static final int FILE_WORKER_NUM = 3;
+  private static final long TEST_TIME_SECOND = 10;
+  private static final long TEST_TIMEOUT_SECOND = TEST_TIME_SECOND + 60;
 
   static final int SHORT_HEARTBEAT = 1;
   static final String[] EMPTY_STRINGS = {};
@@ -106,7 +105,7 @@ public class TestAppendSnapshotTruncate {
 
 
   /** Test randomly mixing append, snapshot and truncate operations. */
-  @Test
+  @Test(timeout=TEST_TIMEOUT_SECOND*1000)
   public void testAST() throws Exception {
     final String dirPathString = "/dir";
     final Path dir = new Path(dirPathString);
@@ -121,12 +120,12 @@ public class TestAppendSnapshotTruncate {
     }
     localDir.mkdirs();
 
-    final DirWorker w = new DirWorker(dir, localDir, 3);
+    final DirWorker w = new DirWorker(dir, localDir, FILE_WORKER_NUM);
     w.startAllFiles();
     w.start();
-    Worker.sleep(10L*1000);
+    Worker.sleep(TEST_TIME_SECOND * 1000);
     w.stop();
-    w.stoptAllFiles();
+    w.stopAllFiles();
     w.checkEverything();
   }
 
@@ -259,7 +258,7 @@ public class TestAppendSnapshotTruncate {
       }
     }
     
-    void stoptAllFiles() throws InterruptedException {
+    void stopAllFiles() throws InterruptedException {
       for(FileWorker f : files) { 
         f.stop();
       }
@@ -269,12 +268,12 @@ public class TestAppendSnapshotTruncate {
       LOG.info("checkEverything");
       for(FileWorker f : files) { 
         f.checkFullFile();
-        Preconditions.checkState(f.state.get() != State.ERROR);
+        f.checkErrorState();
       }
       for(String snapshot : snapshotPaths.keySet()) {
         checkSnapshot(snapshot);
       }
-      Preconditions.checkState(state.get() != State.ERROR);
+      checkErrorState();
     }
   }
 
@@ -364,7 +363,7 @@ public class TestAppendSnapshotTruncate {
       b.append(", newLength=").append(newLength)
        .append(", isReady=").append(isReady);
       if (!isReady) {
-        TestFileTruncate.checkBlockRecovery(file, dfs);
+        TestFileTruncate.checkBlockRecovery(file, dfs, 100, 300L);
       }
       return isReady;
     }
@@ -407,6 +406,7 @@ public class TestAppendSnapshotTruncate {
       IDLE(false), RUNNING(false), STOPPED(true), ERROR(true);
       
       final boolean isTerminated;
+
       State(boolean isTerminated) {
         this.isTerminated = isTerminated;
       }
@@ -416,11 +416,29 @@ public class TestAppendSnapshotTruncate {
     final AtomicReference<State> state = new AtomicReference<State>(State.IDLE);
     final AtomicBoolean isCalling = new AtomicBoolean();
     final AtomicReference<Thread> thread = new AtomicReference<Thread>();
-    
+
+    private Throwable thrown = null;
+
     Worker(String name) {
       this.name = name;
     }
 
+    State checkErrorState() {
+      final State s = state.get();
+      if (s == State.ERROR) {
+        throw new IllegalStateException(name + " has " + s, thrown);
+      }
+      return s;
+    }
+
+    void setErrorState(Throwable t) {
+      checkErrorState();
+
+      LOG.error("Worker " + name + " failed.", t);
+      state.set(State.ERROR);
+      thrown = t;
+    }
+
     void start() {
       Preconditions.checkState(state.compareAndSet(State.IDLE, State.RUNNING));
       
@@ -429,14 +447,13 @@ public class TestAppendSnapshotTruncate {
           @Override
           public void run() {
             final Random r = DFSUtil.getRandom();
-            for(State s; (s = state.get()) == State.RUNNING || s == State.IDLE;) {
+            for(State s; !(s = checkErrorState()).isTerminated;) {
               if (s == State.RUNNING) {
                 isCalling.set(true);
                 try {
                   LOG.info(call());
-                } catch (Exception e) {
-                  LOG.error("Worker " + name + " failed.", e);
-                  state.set(State.ERROR);
+                } catch(Throwable t) {
+                  setErrorState(t);
                   return;
                 }
                 isCalling.set(false);
@@ -451,7 +468,11 @@ public class TestAppendSnapshotTruncate {
     }
 
     boolean isPaused() {
-      return state.get() == State.IDLE && !isCalling.get();
+      final State s = checkErrorState();
+      if (s == State.STOPPED) {
+        throw new IllegalStateException(name + " is " + s);
+      }
+      return s == State.IDLE && !isCalling.get();
     }
 
     void pause() {
@@ -459,9 +480,7 @@ public class TestAppendSnapshotTruncate {
     }
 
     void stop() throws InterruptedException {
-      if (state.get() == State.ERROR) {
-        return;
-      }
+      checkErrorState();
 
       state.set(State.STOPPED);
       thread.get().join();
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestFileTruncate.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestFileTruncate.java
index 19b5cdedb73..b69d3456be0 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestFileTruncate.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestFileTruncate.java
@@ -1151,8 +1151,13 @@ public class TestFileTruncate {
 
   public static void checkBlockRecovery(Path p, DistributedFileSystem dfs)
       throws IOException {
+    checkBlockRecovery(p, dfs, SUCCESS_ATTEMPTS, SLEEP);
+  }
+
+  public static void checkBlockRecovery(Path p, DistributedFileSystem dfs,
+      int attempts, long sleepMs) throws IOException {
     boolean success = false;
-    for(int i = 0; i < SUCCESS_ATTEMPTS; i++) {
+    for(int i = 0; i < attempts; i++) {
       LocatedBlocks blocks = getLocatedBlocks(p, dfs);
       boolean noLastBlock = blocks.getLastLocatedBlock() == null;
       if(!blocks.isUnderConstruction() &&
@@ -1160,9 +1165,9 @@ public class TestFileTruncate {
         success = true;
         break;
       }
-      try { Thread.sleep(SLEEP); } catch (InterruptedException ignored) {}
+      try { Thread.sleep(sleepMs); } catch (InterruptedException ignored) {}
     }
-    assertThat("inode should complete in ~" + SLEEP * SUCCESS_ATTEMPTS + " ms.",
+    assertThat("inode should complete in ~" + sleepMs * attempts + " ms.",
         success, is(true));
   }