diff --git a/README b/README
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29..0000000
diff --git a/benchmarks/benchmark_cached_key_map_random.js b/benchmarks/benchmark_cached_key_map_random.js
index ea4695b..31ddac8 100644
--- a/benchmarks/benchmark_cached_key_map_random.js
+++ b/benchmarks/benchmark_cached_key_map_random.js
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ module.exports.run = function(benchmark, next) {
     
     benchmark.end();
     
-    var map = {};
     var keys = [];
     var key_count = 0;
     
@@ -41,7 +40,6 @@ module.exports.run = function(benchmark, next) {
           var value = random.createRandomObject();
           var key = random.createRandomString(16);
           keys.push(key);
-          map[key] = value;
           key_map.put(key, value, function(err) {
             if (err) {
               throw err;
diff --git a/benchmarks/benchmark_cached_ordered_index.js b/benchmarks/benchmark_cached_ordered_index.js
index beaa643..c9e6cdd 100644
--- a/benchmarks/benchmark_cached_ordered_index.js
+++ b/benchmarks/benchmark_cached_ordered_index.js
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@ module.exports.run = function(benchmark, next) {
       };
     };
 
-    var map = {};
     var key_count = 0;
     
     benchmark.start('clearing key map');
@@ -46,7 +45,6 @@ module.exports.run = function(benchmark, next) {
           var value_index = i % 3;
           var value = createRandomObject(a_values[value_index], b_values[value_index]);
           var key = random.createRandomString(16);
-          map[key] = value;
           key_map.put(key, value, function(err) {
             if (err) {
               throw err;
diff --git a/benchmarks/benchmark_cached_unordered_index.js b/benchmarks/benchmark_cached_unordered_index.js
index 6db113b..b5c7133 100644
--- a/benchmarks/benchmark_cached_unordered_index.js
+++ b/benchmarks/benchmark_cached_unordered_index.js
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@ module.exports.run = function(benchmark, next) {
       };
     };
 
-    var map = {};
     var key_count = 0;
     
     benchmark.start('clearing key map');
@@ -46,7 +45,6 @@ module.exports.run = function(benchmark, next) {
           var value_index = i % 3;
           var value = createRandomObject(a_values[value_index], b_values[value_index]);
           var key = random.createRandomString(16);
-          map[key] = value;
           key_map.put(key, value, function(err) {
             if (err) {
               throw err;
diff --git a/benchmarks/benchmark_collection.js b/benchmarks/benchmark_collection.js
index 4027e28..91c96ea 100644
--- a/benchmarks/benchmark_collection.js
+++ b/benchmarks/benchmark_collection.js
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ module.exports.run = function(benchmark, next) {
     }
     
     benchmark.end();
-    var assert = require('assert');
 
     benchmark.start('prunning collection');
     collection.clear(function(err) {
@@ -34,7 +33,7 @@ module.exports.run = function(benchmark, next) {
       var index = 0;
       benchmark.start('reading entire collection of ' + OBJECT_COUNT + ' records');
       collection.read(function(error, record) {
-        assert.equal(error, null);
+        if (error) { throw error; }
         if (record === null) {
           benchmark.end();
           collection.end(function(err) {
diff --git a/benchmarks/benchmark_collection_filter.js b/benchmarks/benchmark_collection_filter.js
index 2b5373e..e0028f3 100644
--- a/benchmarks/benchmark_collection_filter.js
+++ b/benchmarks/benchmark_collection_filter.js
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 module.exports.run = function(benchmark, next) {
 
   var random = require('../tools/random_generator');
-  var assert = require('assert');
   
   require(__dirname + '/../lib/alfred/collection.js').open(__dirname + '/../tmp/collection_filter_benchmark.alf', function(err, collection) {
     if (err) {
diff --git a/benchmarks/benchmark_indexed_key_map.js b/benchmarks/benchmark_indexed_key_map.js
index 8711fea..3800e67 100644
--- a/benchmarks/benchmark_indexed_key_map.js
+++ b/benchmarks/benchmark_indexed_key_map.js
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 module.exports.run = function(benchmark, next) {
   
-  var assert = require('assert');
   var sys    = require('sys') || require('util');
   var fs     = require('fs');
   var random = require('../tools/random_generator');
@@ -24,7 +23,6 @@ module.exports.run = function(benchmark, next) {
     
     benchmark.end();
     
-    var map = {};
     var keys = [];
     var key_count = 0;
     
@@ -41,7 +39,6 @@ module.exports.run = function(benchmark, next) {
           var value = random.createRandomObject();
           var key = random.createRandomString(16);
           keys.push(key);
-          map[key] = value;
           key_map.put(key, value, function(err) {
             if (err) {
               throw err;
@@ -66,7 +63,7 @@ module.exports.run = function(benchmark, next) {
                   benchmark.end();
 
                   var timeout = setTimeout(function() {
-                    assert.ok(false, "timeout");
+                    throw new Error('timeout');
                   }, 240000);
 
                   var tested_keys = 0;
@@ -80,9 +77,8 @@ module.exports.run = function(benchmark, next) {
                       for (var i = 0; i < OBJECT_COUNT; i++) {
                         (function(i) {
                           var key = keys[i];
-                          var value = map[key];
                           key_map.get(key, function(err, record) {
-                            assert.deepEqual(record, value);
+                            if (err) { throw err; }
                           });
                           tested_keys ++;
                           if (tested_keys == going_for) {
diff --git a/benchmarks/benchmark_indexed_key_map_random.js b/benchmarks/benchmark_indexed_key_map_random.js
index 47e79f5..6efa09d 100644
--- a/benchmarks/benchmark_indexed_key_map_random.js
+++ b/benchmarks/benchmark_indexed_key_map_random.js
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ module.exports.run = function(benchmark, next) {
     
     benchmark.end();
     
-    var map = {};
     var keys = [];
     var key_count = 0;
     
@@ -41,7 +40,6 @@ module.exports.run = function(benchmark, next) {
           var value = random.createRandomObject();
           var key = random.createRandomString(16);
           keys.push(key);
-          map[key] = value;
           key_map.put(key, value, function(err) {
             if (err) {
               throw err;
diff --git a/benchmarks/benchmark_key_map.js b/benchmarks/benchmark_key_map.js
index 8e04d9c..3d76091 100644
--- a/benchmarks/benchmark_key_map.js
+++ b/benchmarks/benchmark_key_map.js
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ module.exports.run = function(benchmark, next) {
     var RETRIEVE_RANDOM_COUNT = 10; //0;
 
     var keys = [];
-    var map = {};
 
     key_map.clear(function(err) {
       if (err) {
@@ -25,7 +24,6 @@ module.exports.run = function(benchmark, next) {
           var value = random.createRandomObject();
           var key = random.createRandomString(16);
           keys.push(key);
-          map[key] = value;
           key_map.put(key, value, function(err) {
             if (err) {
               throw err;
diff --git a/benchmarks/benchmark_key_map_each_with_pos.js b/benchmarks/benchmark_key_map_each_with_pos.js
index c8a9f00..0a6cac7 100644
--- a/benchmarks/benchmark_key_map_each_with_pos.js
+++ b/benchmarks/benchmark_key_map_each_with_pos.js
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ module.exports.run = function(benchmark, next) {
       throw err;
     }
 
-    var map = {};
     var key_count = 0;
 
     key_map.clear(function(err) {
@@ -23,7 +22,6 @@ module.exports.run = function(benchmark, next) {
         (function(i) {
           var value = random.createRandomObject();
           var key = random.createRandomString(16);
-          map[key] = value;
           key_map.put(key, value, function(err) {
             if (err) {
               throw err;
diff --git a/benchmarks/results/summaries/latest b/benchmarks/results/summaries/latest
index eb8ad7a..4072605 120000
--- a/benchmarks/results/summaries/latest
+++ b/benchmarks/results/summaries/latest
@@ -1 +1 @@
-20110107125104
\ No newline at end of file
+20110107224917
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/lib/alfred/files/file.js b/lib/alfred/files/file.js
index 0e29613..3e87d08 100644
--- a/lib/alfred/files/file.js
+++ b/lib/alfred/files/file.js
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ File.prototype.readOne = function(position, callback) {
 
   this.queue_size ++;
   
-  var buf = new Buffer(this.options.buffer_length),
+  var buf = new Buffer(14),
       read_string = new Buffer(this.options.buffer_length);
       bytesRead = 0,
       self = this,
@@ -245,11 +245,12 @@ File.prototype.readOne = function(position, callback) {
         }
         
         if (!processed_header) {
-          // now length is the record length + 40 * 2 (header is 12 bytes and trailer is 40 bytes)
+          // now length is the record length + 54 (header is 12 bytes and trailer is 40 bytes)
           length = parseInt(read_string.toString('utf8', 2, 14), 10) + 54;
           var new_buf = new Buffer(length);
           read_string.copy(new_buf, 0, 0, bytesRead);
           read_string = new_buf;
+          buf = new Buffer(length);
           processed_header = true;
         }
         if (bytesRead >= length) {
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 7695fba..1bcdf78 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 { "name" : "alfred"
 , "description" : "In-process key-value store"
-, "version" : "0.1.0beta5"
+, "version" : "0.1.0beta6"
 , "homepage" : "http://pgte.github.com/alfred"
 , "author" : "Pedro Teixeira <pedro.teixeira@gmail.com> (http://metaduck.com)"
 , "contributors" :
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 , "dependencies" :
   {
     "step" : ">=0.0.3"
-  , "carrier" : ">= 0.0.4"
+  , "carrier" : ">= 0.1.0"
   , "crc" : ">= 0.1.0"
   } 
 , "licenses" :