diff --git a/src/ee/anticache/AntiCacheDB.cpp b/src/ee/anticache/AntiCacheDB.cpp
index e196529a87..8a8febcffc 100644
--- a/src/ee/anticache/AntiCacheDB.cpp
+++ b/src/ee/anticache/AntiCacheDB.cpp
@@ -100,6 +100,8 @@ void AntiCacheDB::initializeNVM() {
 
     strcpy(nvm_file_name, m_dbDir.c_str()); 
     strcat(nvm_file_name, "/anticache.nvm");
+    nvm_file = fopen(nvm_file_name, "w"); 
+    fclose(nvm_file); 
     nvm_file = fopen(nvm_file_name, "rw+"); 
 
     if(nvm_file == NULL)
@@ -125,13 +127,20 @@ void AntiCacheDB::initializeNVM() {
     }
     
     m_NVMBlocks =  (char*)mmap(NULL, NVM_FILE_SIZE, PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE, nvm_fd, 0); 
-    
+    //m_NVMBlocks = new char[NVM_FILE_SIZE]; 
+
     if(m_NVMBlocks == MAP_FAILED)
     {
         VOLT_ERROR("Anti-Cache initialization error."); 
         VOLT_ERROR("Failed to mmap PMFS file %s: %s", nvm_file_name, strerror(errno));
         throwFatalException("Failed to initialize anti-cache PMFS file in directory %s.", m_dbDir.c_str());
     }
+
+    // write out NULL characters to ensure entire file has been fetchted from memory
+    for(int i = 0; i < NVM_FILE_SIZE; i++)
+    {
+        m_NVMBlocks[i] = '\0'; 
+    }
 }
 
 void AntiCacheDB::shutdownBerkeleyDB() {
@@ -162,7 +171,6 @@ void AntiCacheDB::shutdownNVM()
 {    
 }
 
-
 AntiCacheDB::~AntiCacheDB() {
     
     #ifdef ANTICACHE_NVM
@@ -232,7 +240,7 @@ void AntiCacheDB::writeBlockNVM(const std::string tableName,
    //m_NVMBlocks[m_totalBlocks] = new char[size]; 
    //memcpy(m_NVMBlocks[m_totalBlocks], data, size); 
 
-   VOLT_DEBUG("Writing NVM Block: ID = %d, index = %d, size = %ld", blockId, index, size); 
+   VOLT_INFO("Writing NVM Block: ID = %d, index = %d, size = %ld", blockId, index, size); 
    m_blockMap.insert(std::pair<int16_t, std::pair<int, long> >(blockId, std::pair<int, long>(index, size))); 
 }
 
@@ -249,7 +257,7 @@ AntiCacheBlock AntiCacheDB::readBlockNVM(std::string tableName, int16_t blockId)
    }
 
    int blockIndex = itr->second.first; 
-   VOLT_DEBUG("Reading NVM block: ID = %d, index = %d, size = %ld.", blockId, blockIndex, itr->second.second);
+   VOLT_INFO("Reading NVM block: ID = %d, index = %d, size = %ld.", blockId, blockIndex, itr->second.second);
  
    char* block_ptr = getNVMBlock(blockIndex); 
    AntiCacheBlock block(blockId, empty, block_ptr, itr->second.second);
@@ -280,21 +288,28 @@ AntiCacheBlock AntiCacheDB::readBlock(std::string tableName, int16_t blockId) {
 }
     
 void AntiCacheDB::flushBlocks() {
-    m_db->sync(0); 
+    
+    #ifdef ANTICACHE_NVM
+        
+    #else 
+        m_db->sync(0);
+    #endif
 }
 
 char* AntiCacheDB::getNVMBlock(int index) {
     
-    char* nvm_block = new char[NVM_BLOCK_SIZE];     
-    memcpy(nvm_block, m_NVMBlocks+(index*NVM_BLOCK_SIZE), NVM_BLOCK_SIZE); 
+  //char* nvm_block = new char[NVM_BLOCK_SIZE];     
+  //memcpy(nvm_block, m_NVMBlocks+(index*NVM_BLOCK_SIZE), NVM_BLOCK_SIZE); 
     
-    return nvm_block; 
+  //return nvm_block; 
+  return (m_NVMBlocks+(index*NVM_BLOCK_SIZE));  
 }
 
 int AntiCacheDB::getFreeNVMBlockIndex()
 {
     int free_index = 0; 
-    if(m_NVMBlockFreeList.size() > 0)
+    //if(m_NVMBlockFreeList.size() > 0)
+    if(false)
     {
         free_index = m_NVMBlockFreeList.back(); 
     }
diff --git a/src/ee/anticache/AntiCacheDB.h b/src/ee/anticache/AntiCacheDB.h
index 19336a26f5..da5c26110c 100644
--- a/src/ee/anticache/AntiCacheDB.h
+++ b/src/ee/anticache/AntiCacheDB.h
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ class AntiCacheDB {
          * NVM constants
          */
         static const off_t NVM_FILE_SIZE = 1073741824; 
-        static const int NVM_BLOCK_SIZE = 4096; 
+        static const int NVM_BLOCK_SIZE = 524288 * 2; 
         
         ExecutorContext *m_executorContext;
         string m_dbDir;
diff --git a/src/ee/storage/persistenttable.cpp b/src/ee/storage/persistenttable.cpp
index 5f2a1e168d..4e9dff1005 100644
--- a/src/ee/storage/persistenttable.cpp
+++ b/src/ee/storage/persistenttable.cpp
@@ -465,7 +465,7 @@ bool PersistentTable::mergeUnevictedTuples()
     
     m_unevictedBlocks.clear();
     m_mergeTupleOffset.clear(); 
-        m_unevictedBlockIDs.clear();  // if we uncomment this the benchmark won't end
+    //m_unevictedBlockIDs.clear();  // if we uncomment this the benchmark won't end
     
     #ifdef VOLT_INFO_ENABLED
     VOLT_INFO("Active Tuple Count: %d -- %d", (int)active_tuple_count, (int)activeTupleCount());
diff --git a/src/ee/storage/persistenttable.h b/src/ee/storage/persistenttable.h
index 9b31fbfc01..80adc66728 100644
--- a/src/ee/storage/persistenttable.h
+++ b/src/ee/storage/persistenttable.h
@@ -340,8 +340,8 @@ class PersistentTable : public Table {
     std::vector<char*> m_unevictedBlocks;
     std::vector<int32_t> m_mergeTupleOffset; 
     
-    std::map<int, int> m_unevictedTuplesPerBlocks;
-    
+    std::map<int, int> m_unevictedTuplesPerBlocks; 
+
     char* m_unevictedTuples; 
     int m_numUnevictedTuples;