diff --git a/zeppelin-zengine/src/main/java/org/apache/zeppelin/notebook/repo/NotebookRepoSync.java b/zeppelin-zengine/src/main/java/org/apache/zeppelin/notebook/repo/NotebookRepoSync.java
index cbc2263c71b..be036ff9e9c 100644
--- a/zeppelin-zengine/src/main/java/org/apache/zeppelin/notebook/repo/NotebookRepoSync.java
+++ b/zeppelin-zengine/src/main/java/org/apache/zeppelin/notebook/repo/NotebookRepoSync.java
@@ -28,8 +28,6 @@
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
-import com.google.gson.Gson;
-
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Collections;
@@ -209,9 +207,13 @@ public void move(String folderPath, String newFolderPath,
   @Override
   public void remove(String noteId, String notePath, AuthenticationInfo subject) throws IOException {
     for (NotebookRepo repo : repos) {
-      repo.remove(noteId, notePath, subject);
+      try {
+        repo.remove(noteId, notePath, subject);
+      } catch (IOException e) {
+        LOGGER.error("Failed to remove note {} from repo {}", noteId, repo.getClass().getName(), e);
+        throw new IOException("Failed to remove note from repository: " + repo.getClass().getName(), e);
+      }
     }
-    /* TODO(khalid): handle case when removing from secondary storage fails */
   }
 
   @Override
diff --git a/zeppelin-zengine/src/test/java/org/apache/zeppelin/notebook/repo/NotebookRepoSyncTest.java b/zeppelin-zengine/src/test/java/org/apache/zeppelin/notebook/repo/NotebookRepoSyncTest.java
index 539a160dcbb..0ccf022d9f7 100644
--- a/zeppelin-zengine/src/test/java/org/apache/zeppelin/notebook/repo/NotebookRepoSyncTest.java
+++ b/zeppelin-zengine/src/test/java/org/apache/zeppelin/notebook/repo/NotebookRepoSyncTest.java
@@ -24,7 +24,9 @@
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.HashSet;
+import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Set;
 import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
@@ -48,8 +50,10 @@
 import org.apache.zeppelin.user.AuthenticationInfo;
 import org.apache.zeppelin.user.Credentials;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.AfterEach;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.mockito.Mockito;
 import org.quartz.SchedulerException;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
@@ -434,4 +438,43 @@ void testSyncWithAcl() throws IOException {
     assertEquals(0, authorizationService.getRunners(noteId).size());
     assertEquals(0, authorizationService.getWriters(noteId).size());
   }
+
+  @Test
+  void testSyncOnDeleteWithPartialFailure() throws Exception {
+
+    assertTrue(notebookRepoSync.getRepoCount() > 1);
+    String noteId = notebook.createNote("test_partial_failure", "", anonymous);
+    String notePath = notebookRepoSync.list(0, anonymous).get(0).getPath();
+
+    assertEquals(1, notebookRepoSync.list(0, anonymous).size());
+    assertEquals(1, notebookRepoSync.list(1, anonymous).size());
+
+    // given (setup)
+    NotebookRepo mockPrimaryRepo = Mockito.mock(NotebookRepo.class);
+    NotebookRepo mockSecondaryRepo = Mockito.mock(NotebookRepo.class);
+    List<NotebookRepo> mockRepos = Arrays.asList(mockPrimaryRepo, mockSecondaryRepo);
+
+    java.lang.reflect.Field reposField = notebookRepoSync.getClass().getDeclaredField("repos");
+    reposField.setAccessible(true);
+
+    reposField.set(notebookRepoSync, mockRepos);
+
+    // define Mock behavior
+    Mockito.doNothing().when(mockPrimaryRepo).remove(Mockito.any(), Mockito.any(), Mockito.any());
+    Mockito.doThrow(IOException.class)
+           .when(mockSecondaryRepo).remove(Mockito.any(), Mockito.any(), Mockito.any());
+
+    // when & then
+    IOException thrownException = Assertions.assertThrows(IOException.class, () -> {
+      notebookRepoSync.remove(noteId, notePath, anonymous);
+    });
+
+    Mockito.verify(mockPrimaryRepo, Mockito.times(1)).remove(noteId, notePath, anonymous);
+    Mockito.verify(mockSecondaryRepo, Mockito.times(1)).remove(noteId, notePath, anonymous);
+
+    Assertions.assertTrue(
+            thrownException.getMessage().contains("Failed to remove note from repository: "));
+
+    notebook.close();
+  }
 }