diff --git a/components/nvs_flash/README.rst b/components/nvs_flash/README.rst
index ade5518aa5..f9602fc8bf 100644
--- a/components/nvs_flash/README.rst
+++ b/components/nvs_flash/README.rst
@@ -9,10 +9,12 @@ Non-volatile storage (NVS) library is designed to store key-value pairs in flash
 Underlying storage
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
-Currently NVS uses a portion of main flash memory through ``spi_flash_{read|write|erase}`` APIs. The range of flash sectors to be used by the library is provided to ``nvs_flash_init`` function.
+Currently NVS uses a portion of main flash memory through ``spi_flash_{read|write|erase}`` APIs. The library uses the first partition with ``data`` type and ``nvs`` subtype.
 
 Future versions of this library may add other storage backends to keep data in another flash chip (SPI or I2C), RTC, FRAM, etc.
 
+.. note:: if an NVS partition is truncated (for example, when the partition table layout is changed), its contents should be erased. ESP-IDF build system provides a ``make erase_flash`` target to erase all contents of the flash chip.
+
 Keys and values
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
diff --git a/components/nvs_flash/include/nvs.h b/components/nvs_flash/include/nvs.h
index 7deca54440..6e5af231ab 100644
--- a/components/nvs_flash/include/nvs.h
+++ b/components/nvs_flash/include/nvs.h
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ typedef uint32_t nvs_handle;
 #define ESP_ERR_NVS_PAGE_FULL           (ESP_ERR_NVS_BASE + 0x0a)  /*!< Internal error; never returned by nvs_ API functions */
 #define ESP_ERR_NVS_INVALID_STATE       (ESP_ERR_NVS_BASE + 0x0b)  /*!< NVS is in an inconsistent state due to a previous error. Call nvs_flash_init and nvs_open again, then retry. */
 #define ESP_ERR_NVS_INVALID_LENGTH      (ESP_ERR_NVS_BASE + 0x0c)  /*!< String or blob length is not sufficient to store data */
+#define ESP_ERR_NVS_NO_FREE_PAGES       (ESP_ERR_NVS_BASE + 0x0d)  /*!< NVS partition doesn't contain any empty pages. This may happen if NVS partition was truncated. Erase the whole partition and call nvs_flash_init again. */
 
 /**
  * @brief Mode of opening the non-volatile storage
diff --git a/components/nvs_flash/include/nvs_flash.h b/components/nvs_flash/include/nvs_flash.h
index 0162a8f8ac..8307fe3521 100644
--- a/components/nvs_flash/include/nvs_flash.h
+++ b/components/nvs_flash/include/nvs_flash.h
@@ -21,7 +21,11 @@ extern "C" {
 /**
  * @brief Initialize NVS flash storage with layout given in the partition table.
  *
- * @return ESP_OK if storage was successfully initialized.
+ * @return
+ *      - ESP_OK if storage was successfully initialized.
+ *      - ESP_ERR_NVS_NO_FREE_PAGES if the NVS storage contains no empty pages
+ *        (which may happen if NVS partition was truncated)
+ *      - one of the error codes from the underlying flash storage driver
  */
 esp_err_t nvs_flash_init(void);
 
diff --git a/components/nvs_flash/src/nvs_pagemanager.cpp b/components/nvs_flash/src/nvs_pagemanager.cpp
index 768b30667a..943f54f2f8 100644
--- a/components/nvs_flash/src/nvs_pagemanager.cpp
+++ b/components/nvs_flash/src/nvs_pagemanager.cpp
@@ -105,6 +105,11 @@ esp_err_t PageManager::load(uint32_t baseSector, uint32_t sectorCount)
         }
     }
 
+    // partition should have at least one free page
+    if (mFreePageList.size() == 0) {
+        return ESP_ERR_NVS_NO_FREE_PAGES;
+    }
+    
     return ESP_OK;
 }
 
diff --git a/components/nvs_flash/test_nvs_host/test_nvs.cpp b/components/nvs_flash/test_nvs_host/test_nvs.cpp
index 282d4de48e..ff35a84d11 100644
--- a/components/nvs_flash/test_nvs_host/test_nvs.cpp
+++ b/components/nvs_flash/test_nvs_host/test_nvs.cpp
@@ -1108,6 +1108,23 @@ TEST_CASE("read/write failure (TW8406)", "[nvs]")
     }
 }
 
+TEST_CASE("nvs_flash_init checks for an empty page", "[nvs]")
+{
+    const size_t blob_size = 2048; // big enough so that only one can fit into a page
+    uint8_t blob[blob_size] = {0};
+    SpiFlashEmulator emu(5);
+    TEST_ESP_OK( nvs_flash_init_custom(0, 5) );
+    nvs_handle handle;
+    TEST_ESP_OK( nvs_open("test", NVS_READWRITE, &handle) );
+    TEST_ESP_OK( nvs_set_blob(handle, "1", blob, blob_size) );
+    TEST_ESP_OK( nvs_set_blob(handle, "2", blob, blob_size) );
+    TEST_ESP_OK( nvs_set_blob(handle, "3", blob, blob_size) );
+    TEST_ESP_OK( nvs_commit(handle) );
+    nvs_close(handle);
+    // first two pages are now full, third one is writable, last two are empty
+    // init should fail
+    TEST_ESP_ERR( nvs_flash_init_custom(0, 3), ESP_ERR_NVS_NO_FREE_PAGES );
+}
 
 TEST_CASE("dump all performance data", "[nvs]")
 {
diff --git a/docs/api/storage/nvs_flash.rst b/docs/api/storage/nvs_flash.rst
index ce1af94546..b6cf6f2210 100644
--- a/docs/api/storage/nvs_flash.rst
+++ b/docs/api/storage/nvs_flash.rst
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ Macros
 .. doxygendefine:: ESP_ERR_NVS_PAGE_FULL
 .. doxygendefine:: ESP_ERR_NVS_INVALID_STATE
 .. doxygendefine:: ESP_ERR_NVS_INVALID_LENGTH
+.. doxygendefine:: ESP_ERR_NVS_NO_FREE_PAGES
 
 Type Definitions
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
@@ -61,6 +62,7 @@ Enumerations
 
 Functions
 ^^^^^^^^^
+.. doxygenfunction:: nvs_flash_init
 .. doxygenfunction:: nvs_open
 .. doxygenfunction:: nvs_set_i8
 .. doxygenfunction:: nvs_set_u8
@@ -86,5 +88,5 @@ Functions
 .. doxygenfunction:: nvs_erase_all
 .. doxygenfunction:: nvs_commit
 .. doxygenfunction:: nvs_close
-.. doxygenfunction:: nvs_flash_init
+