diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 098ced9..4391481 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ clean:
 	@echo '=== Cleaning up ==='
 	find . -type d -name __pycache__ -exec rm -rf {} + 2>/dev/null || true
 	find . -type f -name "*.pyc" -delete 2>/dev/null || true
-	rm -rf $(PROJECT_NAME).egg-info .pytest_cache .coverage .$(LINTER)_cache site docs/site
+	rm -rf $(PROJECT_NAME).egg-info .pytest_cache .coverage .$(LINTER)_cache site docs/site .hyperbench_cache
 
 destroy: clean
 	@echo '=== Destroying environment ==='
diff --git a/hyperbench/data/hif.py b/hyperbench/data/hif.py
index 60036f4..dd5d4e0 100644
--- a/hyperbench/data/hif.py
+++ b/hyperbench/data/hif.py
@@ -382,6 +382,7 @@ def load_by_name(
             try:
                 path_prefix = f"datasets--HypernetworkRG--{dataset_name}"
                 shutil.rmtree(os.path.join(hf_cache_dir, path_prefix))
+                shutil.rmtree(os.path.join(hf_cache_dir, ".locks", path_prefix))
             except Exception as e:
                 warnings.warn(
                     f"Failed to clean up Hugging Face Hub cache after downloading dataset {dataset_name!r}: {e!s}.",
diff --git a/hyperbench/tests/data/hif_test.py b/hyperbench/tests/data/hif_test.py
index 07f7769..7cacc3a 100644
--- a/hyperbench/tests/data/hif_test.py
+++ b/hyperbench/tests/data/hif_test.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 import pytest
 import requests
 import torch
+import os
 
 from unittest.mock import patch
 from hyperbench.data import HIFLoader, HIFProcessor
@@ -654,6 +655,7 @@ def test_load_by_name_uses_hf_revision_when_github_download_fails(tmp_path, mock
     assert result.num_nodes == 2
     assert result.num_hyperedges == 1
     assert not (tmp_path / "hf_cache" / "datasets--HypernetworkRG--algebra").exists()
+    assert not (tmp_path / "hf_cache" / ".locks" / "datasets--HypernetworkRG--algebra").exists()
 
 
 def test_load_by_name_skips_cache_cleanup_when_hf_cache_dir_is_missing(tmp_path, mock_hypergraph):
@@ -692,6 +694,36 @@ def test_load_by_name_skips_cache_cleanup_when_hf_cache_dir_is_missing(tmp_path,
     assert result.num_hyperedges == 1
 
 
+def test_load_by_name_cleans_hf_cache_and_locks(tmp_path, mock_hypergraph):
+    hf_sha = "2bb641461e00c103fb5ef4fe6a30aad42500fc21"
+    fallback_file = tmp_path / "algebra.json.zst"
+    fallback_file.write_bytes(b"mock_zst_content")
+    payload = __hif_payload(mock_hypergraph)
+
+    response = requests.Response()
+    response.status_code = 404
+    response._content = b""
+
+    with (
+        patch("hyperbench.data.hif.os.path.exists", return_value=False),
+        patch("hyperbench.data.hif.os.path.isdir", return_value=True),
+        patch("hyperbench.data.hif.requests.get", return_value=response),
+        patch("hyperbench.data.hif.hf_hub_download", return_value=str(fallback_file)),
+        patch("hyperbench.data.hif.from_zst_file_to_json", return_value=payload),
+        patch("hyperbench.data.hif.validate_hif_data", return_value=True),
+        patch("hyperbench.data.hif.shutil.rmtree") as mock_rmtree,
+        pytest.warns(UserWarning, match="GitHub raw download failed"),
+    ):
+        result = HIFLoader.load_by_name("algebra", hf_sha=hf_sha, save_on_disk=False)
+
+    cache_root = tmp_path / "hf_cache"
+    path_prefix = "datasets--HypernetworkRG--algebra"
+    mock_rmtree.assert_any_call(os.path.join(cache_root, path_prefix))
+    mock_rmtree.assert_any_call(os.path.join(cache_root, ".locks", path_prefix))
+    assert result.num_nodes == 2
+    assert result.num_hyperedges == 1
+
+
 def test_load_by_name_raises_when_hf_sha_is_missing_on_fallback():
     response = requests.Response()
     response.status_code = 404
diff --git a/hyperbench/tests/utils/hif_utils_test.py b/hyperbench/tests/utils/hif_utils_test.py
index 89ad135..4ff9cb0 100644
--- a/hyperbench/tests/utils/hif_utils_test.py
+++ b/hyperbench/tests/utils/hif_utils_test.py
@@ -112,10 +112,17 @@ def test_validate_hif_json_opens_the_given_path(tmp_path):
     mock_file.assert_called_once_with(str(path_valid), encoding="utf-8")
 
 
-def test_validate_hif_json_with_url_success():
+def test_validate_hif_json_with_url_success(tmp_path):
     path_valid = f"{MOCK_BASE_PATH}/hif_compliant.json"
+    schema_path = tmp_path / "hif_schema.json"
 
-    with patch("hyperbench.utils.hif_utils.requests.get") as mock_get:
+    mock_files = MagicMock()
+    mock_files.joinpath.return_value = schema_path
+
+    with (
+        patch("hyperbench.utils.hif_utils.requests.get") as mock_get,
+        patch("hyperbench.utils.hif_utils.resources.files", return_value=mock_files),
+    ):
         mock_response = MagicMock()
         mock_response.json.return_value = {"type": "object"}  # Minimal valid schema
         mock_get.return_value = mock_response
@@ -126,6 +133,8 @@ def test_validate_hif_json_with_url_success():
             timeout=10,
         )
 
+    assert schema_path.exists()
+
 
 def test_validate_hif_json_with_url_timeout_fallback():
     path_valid = f"{MOCK_BASE_PATH}/hif_compliant.json"
@@ -172,6 +181,24 @@ def test_validate_hif_json_with_url_request_exception_fallback():
         mock_path.open.assert_called_once_with("r", encoding="utf-8")
 
 
+def test_validate_hif_data_raises_when_schema_load_fails():
+    with (
+        patch(
+            "hyperbench.utils.hif_utils.resources.files",
+            side_effect=RuntimeError("no local schema"),
+        ),
+        patch(
+            "hyperbench.utils.hif_utils.requests.get",
+            side_effect=requests.RequestException("network down"),
+        ),
+        pytest.raises(
+            RuntimeError,
+            match="Failed to load HIF schema from both local file and remote URL",
+        ),
+    ):
+        validate_hif_data({"incidences": [{"edge": 1, "node": 2}]})
+
+
 def test_get_datasets_shas_returns_shas_and_none_on_failure():
     names = ["algebra", "missing-dataset"]
 
diff --git a/hyperbench/utils/hif_utils.py b/hyperbench/utils/hif_utils.py
index 69b37ed..88402c2 100644
--- a/hyperbench/utils/hif_utils.py
+++ b/hyperbench/utils/hif_utils.py
@@ -112,12 +112,27 @@ def get_gh_dataset_sha(dataset_name: str, owner: str, repository: str) -> str |
 
 def __load_hif_schema() -> dict[str, Any]:
     url = f"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/HIF-org/HIF-standard/{HIF_SCHEMA_COMMIT_SHA}/schemas/hif_schema.json"
+
     try:
-        return requests.get(url, timeout=10).json()
-    except (requests.RequestException, requests.Timeout):
         with (
             resources.files("hyperbench.utils.schema")
             .joinpath("hif_schema.json")
             .open("r", encoding="utf-8") as f
         ):
             return json.load(f)
+    except Exception:
+        try:
+            response = requests.get(url, timeout=10)
+            response.raise_for_status()
+            schema = response.json()
+            schema_path = resources.files("hyperbench.utils.schema").joinpath("hif_schema.json")
+            with (
+                resources.as_file(schema_path) as path,
+                path.open("w", encoding="utf-8") as f,
+            ):
+                json.dump(schema, f)
+            return schema
+        except (requests.RequestException, requests.Timeout) as e:
+            raise RuntimeError(
+                "Failed to load HIF schema from both local file and remote URL. "
+            ) from e