diff --git a/backend/src/db/schema.sql b/backend/src/db/schema.sql
index 0a40563..b274c7c 100644
--- a/backend/src/db/schema.sql
+++ b/backend/src/db/schema.sql
@@ -257,13 +257,42 @@ CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_play_history_user_played_at ON play_history(user_
 CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS feedback (
     id UUID PRIMARY KEY DEFAULT gen_random_uuid(),
     user_id UUID NOT NULL,
-    track_id UUID REFERENCES tracks(id) ON DELETE CASCADE,
+    -- SET NULL, not CASCADE: feedback is an audit log and must outlive the
+    -- track. With CASCADE the 'deleted_permanent' row written by
+    -- hardDeleteTrack() deletes itself as soon as the track row goes.
+    track_id UUID REFERENCES tracks(id) ON DELETE SET NULL,
     action TEXT NOT NULL,
+    -- Denormalised track identity, written on 'deleted_permanent' rows only.
+    -- track_id goes NULL when the track is deleted, so without these the audit
+    -- row survives but no longer says what was destroyed.
+    track_path TEXT,
+    track_title TEXT,
+    track_artist TEXT,
     created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
 );
 
 CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_feedback_user_action ON feedback(user_id, action);
 
+-- Files whose DB row has been deleted but whose bytes are still on disk.
+-- The cleanup sweep commits its transaction BEFORE unlinking, so this table is
+-- the durable record of that window: a row is inserted with the deletion and
+-- removed only once the unlink succeeds. A row that lingers means the unlink
+-- failed (EROFS/EACCES/...) or the worker died mid-sweep; the next sweep retries
+-- it. No FK to tracks — the track is already gone.
+CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS pending_file_deletions (
+    path TEXT PRIMARY KEY,
+    track_id UUID,
+    track_title TEXT,
+    track_artist TEXT,
+    requested_at TIMESTAMP NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
+    attempts INTEGER NOT NULL DEFAULT 0,
+    last_attempt_at TIMESTAMP,
+    last_error TEXT
+);
+
+CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_pending_file_deletions_requested
+  ON pending_file_deletions(requested_at);
+
 CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS track_audio_features (
     track_id UUID PRIMARY KEY REFERENCES tracks(id) ON DELETE CASCADE,
     bpm REAL,
diff --git a/backend/src/services/db.service.ts b/backend/src/services/db.service.ts
index d22f288..587a7c9 100644
--- a/backend/src/services/db.service.ts
+++ b/backend/src/services/db.service.ts
@@ -631,6 +631,48 @@ const MIGRATIONS: { id: string; sql: string }[] = [
       END $mig$;
     `,
   },
+  {
+    id: '20260730_feedback_track_id_set_null',
+    sql: `
+      -- feedback is an audit log, but feedback.track_id was
+      -- REFERENCES tracks(id) ON DELETE CASCADE. hardDeleteTrack() /
+      -- permanentlyDeleteTrack() insert a 'deleted_permanent' row and then
+      -- delete the track, so the audit row deleted itself — which is exactly
+      -- why the live feedback table contains zero 'deleted_permanent' rows.
+      -- Switch to ON DELETE SET NULL so audit rows outlive their track. Nothing
+      -- reads feedback.track_id expecting non-null (there are no SELECTs against
+      -- it at all; the only other reference is the dedup merge in
+      -- mergeTracks(), which rewrites track_id to the survivor).
+      ALTER TABLE feedback ALTER COLUMN track_id DROP NOT NULL;
+
+      DO $mig$
+      DECLARE
+        cname TEXT;
+      BEGIN
+        FOR cname IN
+          SELECT con.conname
+          FROM pg_constraint con
+          WHERE con.conrelid = 'feedback'::regclass
+            AND con.contype = 'f'
+            AND con.confrelid = 'tracks'::regclass
+            AND con.confdeltype <> 'n'   -- 'n' = SET NULL; anything else is wrong
+        LOOP
+          EXECUTE format('ALTER TABLE feedback DROP CONSTRAINT %I', cname);
+        END LOOP;
+
+        IF NOT EXISTS (
+          SELECT 1 FROM pg_constraint
+          WHERE conrelid = 'feedback'::regclass
+            AND contype = 'f'
+            AND confrelid = 'tracks'::regclass
+        ) THEN
+          ALTER TABLE feedback
+            ADD CONSTRAINT feedback_track_id_fkey
+            FOREIGN KEY (track_id) REFERENCES tracks(id) ON DELETE SET NULL;
+        END IF;
+      END $mig$;
+    `,
+  },
 ];
 
 export class DbService {