diff --git a/data_iterator.go b/data_iterator.go
index f3f91de2..7466c2ed 100644
--- a/data_iterator.go
+++ b/data_iterator.go
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ import (
 
 type DataIterator struct {
 	DB          *sql.DB
-	Tables      []*schema.Table
 	Concurrency int
 
 	ErrorHandler ErrorHandler
@@ -25,7 +24,7 @@ type DataIterator struct {
 	logger         *logrus.Entry
 }
 
-func (d *DataIterator) Run() {
+func (d *DataIterator) Run(tables []*schema.Table) {
 	d.logger = logrus.WithField("tag", "data_iterator")
 	d.targetPKs = &sync.Map{}
 
@@ -36,8 +35,8 @@ func (d *DataIterator) Run() {
 		d.StateTracker = NewStateTracker(0)
 	}
 
-	d.logger.WithField("tablesCount", len(d.Tables)).Info("starting data iterator run")
-	tablesWithData, emptyTables, err := MaxPrimaryKeys(d.DB, d.Tables, d.logger)
+	d.logger.WithField("tablesCount", len(tables)).Info("starting data iterator run")
+	tablesWithData, emptyTables, err := MaxPrimaryKeys(d.DB, tables, d.logger)
 	if err != nil {
 		d.ErrorHandler.Fatal("data_iterator", err)
 	}
diff --git a/ferry.go b/ferry.go
index 1ef42b02..a906039f 100644
--- a/ferry.go
+++ b/ferry.go
@@ -344,7 +344,6 @@ func (f *Ferry) Start() error {
 
 	// TODO(pushrax): handle changes to schema during copying and clean this up.
 	f.BinlogStreamer.TableSchema = f.Tables
-	f.DataIterator.Tables = f.Tables.AsSlice()
 
 	return nil
 }
@@ -411,7 +410,7 @@ func (f *Ferry) Run() {
 
 	go func() {
 		defer dataIteratorWg.Done()
-		f.DataIterator.Run()
+		f.DataIterator.Run(f.Tables.AsSlice())
 	}()
 
 	dataIteratorWg.Wait()
@@ -445,11 +444,10 @@ func (f *Ferry) RunStandaloneDataCopy(tables []*schema.Table) error {
 	// will get an error dump even though we should not get one, which could be
 	// misleading.
 
-	dataIterator.Tables = tables
 	dataIterator.AddBatchListener(f.BatchWriter.WriteRowBatch)
 	f.logger.WithField("tables", tables).Info("starting delta table copy in cutover")
 
-	dataIterator.Run()
+	dataIterator.Run(tables)
 
 	return nil
 }
diff --git a/test/go/data_iterator_test.go b/test/go/data_iterator_test.go
index 465920cb..79b51233 100644
--- a/test/go/data_iterator_test.go
+++ b/test/go/data_iterator_test.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"sync"
 	"testing"
 
+	"github.com/siddontang/go-mysql/schema"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/suite"
 
 	"github.com/Shopify/ghostferry"
@@ -16,6 +17,7 @@ type DataIteratorTestSuite struct {
 
 	di           *ghostferry.DataIterator
 	wg           *sync.WaitGroup
+	tables       []*schema.Table
 	receivedRows map[string][]ghostferry.RowData
 }
 
@@ -36,6 +38,8 @@ func (this *DataIteratorTestSuite) SetupTest() {
 	tables, err := ghostferry.LoadTables(sourceDb, tableFilter)
 	this.Require().Nil(err)
 
+	this.tables = tables.AsSlice()
+
 	config.DataIterationBatchSize = 2
 
 	this.di = &ghostferry.DataIterator{
@@ -52,8 +56,6 @@ func (this *DataIteratorTestSuite) SetupTest() {
 			ReadRetries: config.DBReadRetries,
 		},
 		StateTracker: ghostferry.NewStateTracker(config.DataIterationConcurrency * 10),
-
-		Tables: tables.AsSlice(),
 	}
 
 	this.receivedRows = make(map[string][]ghostferry.RowData, 0)
@@ -69,7 +71,7 @@ func (this *DataIteratorTestSuite) TestNoEventsForEmptyTable() {
 	_, err = this.Ferry.SourceDB.Query(fmt.Sprintf("DELETE FROM `%s`.`%s`", testhelpers.TestSchemaName, testhelpers.TestCompressedTable1Name))
 	this.Require().Nil(err)
 
-	this.di.Run()
+	this.di.Run(this.tables)
 
 	this.Require().Equal(0, len(this.receivedRows))
 	this.Require().Equal(
@@ -122,7 +124,7 @@ func (this *DataIteratorTestSuite) TestExistingRowsAreIterated() {
 	this.Require().Equal(0, len(this.receivedRows[testhelpers.TestTable1Name]))
 	this.Require().Equal(0, len(this.receivedRows[testhelpers.TestCompressedTable1Name]))
 
-	this.di.Run()
+	this.di.Run(this.tables)
 
 	this.Require().Equal(5, len(this.receivedRows[testhelpers.TestTable1Name]))
 	this.Require().Equal(5, len(this.receivedRows[testhelpers.TestCompressedTable1Name]))
@@ -154,7 +156,7 @@ func (this *DataIteratorTestSuite) TestDoneListenerGetsNotifiedWhenDone() {
 		return nil
 	})
 
-	this.di.Run()
+	this.di.Run(this.tables)
 
 	this.Require().True(wasNotified)
 }