diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 86a9765..349e980 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -12,6 +12,11 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 - New parameter `overProvision`: when set available capacity on a node is calculated by taking into account
   the reserved capacity in the pool based on existing volumes.
 
+### Changed
+
+- When not using topology, select a random node to download the backup. This should prevent the same node
+  being used to download all backups.
+
 ## [1.2.3] - 2023-08-31
 
 ### Changed
diff --git a/pkg/client/linstor.go b/pkg/client/linstor.go
index 288135f..6a1de8b 100644
--- a/pkg/client/linstor.go
+++ b/pkg/client/linstor.go
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"math"
+	"math/rand"
 	"os"
 	"regexp"
 	"sort"
@@ -2157,6 +2158,16 @@ func (s *Linstor) SortByPreferred(ctx context.Context, nodes []string, remotePol
 
 	order := 0
 
+	if len(preferred) == 0 {
+		// If there is no preferred topology, select a random order, so we don't always end up with the
+		// same selected node for downloading backups.
+		rand.Shuffle(len(nodes), func(i, j int) {
+			nodes[i], nodes[j] = nodes[j], nodes[i]
+		})
+
+		return nodes, nil
+	}
+
 	for _, pref := range preferred {
 		// First add the original node directly
 		nodes, err := s.client.NodesForTopology(ctx, pref.GetSegments())
diff --git a/pkg/client/linstor_test.go b/pkg/client/linstor_test.go
index d739ee3..f26a9fa 100644
--- a/pkg/client/linstor_test.go
+++ b/pkg/client/linstor_test.go
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ package client
 import (
 	"context"
 	"encoding/json"
+	"math/rand"
 	"testing"
 
 	lapiconsts "github.com/LINBIT/golinstor"
@@ -368,7 +369,7 @@ func TestLinstor_SortByPreferred(t *testing.T) {
 			name:              "no-preferred",
 			nodes:             []string{"node-a", "node-b", "node-c"},
 			preferredTopology: nil,
-			expected:          []string{"node-a", "node-b", "node-c"},
+			expected:          []string{"node-a", "node-c", "node-b"},
 		},
 		{
 			name:              "one-preferred",
@@ -399,6 +400,7 @@ func TestLinstor_SortByPreferred(t *testing.T) {
 	for i := range testcases {
 		tcase := &testcases[i]
 		t.Run(tcase.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			rand.Seed(1) // nolint:staticcheck // Deprecated but useful in this case, as we don't want to seed our own RNG just for this one function
 			actual, err := cl.SortByPreferred(context.Background(), tcase.nodes, tcase.policy, tcase.preferredTopology)
 			assert.NoError(t, err)
 			assert.Equal(t, tcase.expected, actual)