diff --git a/src/main/java/net/openhft/chronicle/hash/impl/VanillaChronicleHash.java b/src/main/java/net/openhft/chronicle/hash/impl/VanillaChronicleHash.java
index 088b4406b..6e5839ce1 100644
--- a/src/main/java/net/openhft/chronicle/hash/impl/VanillaChronicleHash.java
+++ b/src/main/java/net/openhft/chronicle/hash/impl/VanillaChronicleHash.java
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@ import net.openhft.chronicle.map.ChronicleMapBuilder;
 import net.openhft.lang.io.*;
 import net.openhft.lang.io.serialization.BytesMarshallableSerializer;
 import net.openhft.lang.threadlocal.Provider;
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -49,6 +51,8 @@ public abstract class VanillaChronicleHash<K, KI, MKI extends MetaBytesInterop<K
         ECQ extends ExternalHashQueryContext<K>>
         implements ChronicleHash<K, C, SC, ECQ>, Serializable {
 
+    private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(VanillaChronicleHash.class);
+
     private static final long serialVersionUID = 0L;
 
     /////////////////////////////////////////////////
@@ -103,7 +107,7 @@ public abstract class VanillaChronicleHash<K, KI, MKI extends MetaBytesInterop<K
     public final long segmentSize;
 
     final long maxExtraTiers;
-    final long tierBulkBytesSize;
+    final long tierBulkSizeInBytes;
     final long tierBulkInnerOffsetToTiers;
     protected final long numberOfTiersInBulk;
     protected final int log2NumberOfTiersInBulk;
@@ -202,7 +206,7 @@ public abstract class VanillaChronicleHash<K, KI, MKI extends MetaBytesInterop<K
         numberOfTiersInBulk = computeNumberOfTiersInBulk();
         log2NumberOfTiersInBulk = Maths.intLog2(numberOfTiersInBulk);
         tierBulkInnerOffsetToTiers = computeTierBulkInnerOffsetToTiers(numberOfTiersInBulk);
-        tierBulkBytesSize = computeTierBulkBytesSize();
+        tierBulkSizeInBytes = computeTierBulkBytesSize();
     }
 
     private long segmentSize() {
@@ -286,12 +290,12 @@ public abstract class VanillaChronicleHash<K, KI, MKI extends MetaBytesInterop<K
     private void initTierBulks(long byteStoreSize) {
         tierBulkOffsets = new ArrayList<>();
         long tierBulkOffset = roundUpRuntimePageSize(sizeInBytesWithoutTiers());
-        if (byteStoreSize >= tierBulkOffset + tierBulkBytesSize) {
+        if (byteStoreSize >= tierBulkOffset + tierBulkSizeInBytes) {
             TierBulkData firstTierBulkData = new TierBulkData(ms, tierBulkOffset);
             tierBulkOffsets.add(firstTierBulkData);
             while (true) {
-                tierBulkOffset += tierBulkBytesSize;
-                if (byteStoreSize < tierBulkOffset + tierBulkBytesSize)
+                tierBulkOffset += tierBulkSizeInBytes;
+                if (byteStoreSize < tierBulkOffset + tierBulkSizeInBytes)
                     break;
                 tierBulkOffsets.add(new TierBulkData(firstTierBulkData, tierBulkOffset));
             }
@@ -344,6 +348,15 @@ public abstract class VanillaChronicleHash<K, KI, MKI extends MetaBytesInterop<K
         return mapHeaderOuterSize() + actualSegments * (segmentHeaderSize + segmentSize);
     }
 
+    public final long expectedFileSize() {
+        long sizeInBytesWithoutTiers = sizeInBytesWithoutTiers();
+        long extraAllocatedTierBulkCount = extraAllocatedTierBulkCount();
+        if (extraAllocatedTierBulkCount == 0)
+            return sizeInBytesWithoutTiers;
+        return roundUpRuntimePageSize(sizeInBytesWithoutTiers) +
+                extraAllocatedTierBulkCount * tierBulkSizeInBytes;
+    }
+
     @Override
     public synchronized void close() {
         if (closed)
@@ -583,9 +596,9 @@ public abstract class VanillaChronicleHash<K, KI, MKI extends MetaBytesInterop<K
     private void mapTiersMapped(long upToBulkIndex) throws IOException {
         int firstBulkToMap = tierBulkOffsets.size();
         long bulksToMap = upToBulkIndex + 1 - firstBulkToMap;
-        long mapSize = bulksToMap * tierBulkBytesSize;
+        long mapSize = bulksToMap * tierBulkSizeInBytes;
         long mapStart = roundUpRuntimePageSize(sizeInBytesWithoutTiers()) +
-                firstBulkToMap * tierBulkBytesSize;
+                firstBulkToMap * tierBulkSizeInBytes;
         MappedStore extraStore = new MappedStore(file(), FileChannel.MapMode.READ_WRITE,
                 mapStart, mapSize, ms.objectSerializer());
         appendTierBulkData(upToBulkIndex, firstBulkToMap, extraStore);
@@ -594,7 +607,7 @@ public abstract class VanillaChronicleHash<K, KI, MKI extends MetaBytesInterop<K
     private void allocateTiers(long upToBulkIndex) {
         int firstBulkToMap = tierBulkOffsets.size();
         long bulksToMap = upToBulkIndex + 1 - firstBulkToMap;
-        long mapSize = bulksToMap * tierBulkBytesSize;
+        long mapSize = bulksToMap * tierBulkSizeInBytes;
         DirectStore extraStore = new DirectStore(ms.objectSerializer(), mapSize, true);
         appendTierBulkData(upToBulkIndex, firstBulkToMap, extraStore);
     }
@@ -605,7 +618,7 @@ public abstract class VanillaChronicleHash<K, KI, MKI extends MetaBytesInterop<K
         tierBulkOffsets.add(firstMappedTierBulkData);
         for (long i = firstBulkToMap + 1; i <= upToBulkIndex; i++) {
             tierBulkOffsets.add(new TierBulkData(firstMappedTierBulkData,
-                    offset += tierBulkBytesSize));
+                    offset += tierBulkSizeInBytes));
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/net/openhft/chronicle/map/ChronicleMapBuilder.java b/src/main/java/net/openhft/chronicle/map/ChronicleMapBuilder.java
index 027325d40..3f7ce96b9 100755
--- a/src/main/java/net/openhft/chronicle/map/ChronicleMapBuilder.java
+++ b/src/main/java/net/openhft/chronicle/map/ChronicleMapBuilder.java
@@ -1436,13 +1436,13 @@ public final class ChronicleMapBuilder<K, V> implements
                             (VanillaChronicleMap<K, ?, ?, V, ?, ?, ?>) m;
                     map.initTransientsFromBuilder(this);
                     map.headerSize = roundUpMapHeaderSize(fis.getChannel().position());
-                    long sizeInBytes = map.sizeInBytesWithoutTiers();
-                    if (sizeInBytes != fileLength) {
+                    map.createMappedStoreAndSegments(file);
+                    long expectedFileLength = map.expectedFileSize();
+                    if (expectedFileLength != fileLength) {
                         throw new IOException("The file " + file + "the map is serialized from " +
                                 "has unexpected length " + fileLength + ", probably corrupted. " +
-                                "Expected length is " + sizeInBytes);
+                                "Expected length is " + expectedFileLength);
                     }
-                    map.createMappedStoreAndSegments(file);
                     // This is needed to property initialize key and value serialization builders,
                     // which are later used in replication
                     // TODO don't use SerializationBuilders in replication, extract marshallers
diff --git a/src/main/java/net/openhft/chronicle/map/ReplicatedChronicleMap.java b/src/main/java/net/openhft/chronicle/map/ReplicatedChronicleMap.java
index 98379edeb..958966d01 100644
--- a/src/main/java/net/openhft/chronicle/map/ReplicatedChronicleMap.java
+++ b/src/main/java/net/openhft/chronicle/map/ReplicatedChronicleMap.java
@@ -706,8 +706,6 @@ public class ReplicatedChronicleMap<K, KI, MKI extends MetaBytesInterop<K, ? sup
                 }
                 // for each allocated tier bulk
                 while (iterationMainSegmentsAreaOrTierBulk < extraAllocatedTierBulkCount()) {
-                    if (true)
-                        throw new AssertionError("shouldn't be here yet");
                     VanillaChronicleHash.TierBulkData tierBulkData =
                             tierBulkOffsets.get(iterationMainSegmentsAreaOrTierBulk);
                     tierBulkBitSetAddr = tierBulkData.langBytes.address() + tierBulkData.offset +
diff --git a/src/test/java/net/openhft/chronicle/map/EntryCountMapTest.java b/src/test/java/net/openhft/chronicle/map/EntryCountMapTest.java
index bac9583c6..3ed4c9fa3 100644
--- a/src/test/java/net/openhft/chronicle/map/EntryCountMapTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/net/openhft/chronicle/map/EntryCountMapTest.java
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ public class EntryCountMapTest {
         System.out.printf(" Score: %.2f%n", scoreCount / score);
     }
 
-    @Test(timeout = 1000 * 60)
+    @Test
     public void testSmall() throws IOException, ExecutionException, InterruptedException {
         System.out.print("testSmall seeds");
         int procs = Runtime.getRuntime().availableProcessors();
diff --git a/src/test/java/net/openhft/chronicle/set/Issue24ChronicleSetTest.java b/src/test/java/net/openhft/chronicle/set/Issue24ChronicleSetTest.java
index 466f9e0d6..f5b2cbc16 100644
--- a/src/test/java/net/openhft/chronicle/set/Issue24ChronicleSetTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/net/openhft/chronicle/set/Issue24ChronicleSetTest.java
@@ -39,6 +39,9 @@ public class Issue24ChronicleSetTest {
         String tmp = System.getProperty("java.io.tmpdir");
         String pathname = tmp + "/" + fileName;
         File file = new File(pathname);
+        if (file.exists())
+            file.delete();
+        file.deleteOnExit();
         try {
             H result = builder.entries(entrySize)
                     .averageKeySize(averageKeySize).createPersistedTo(file);
@@ -53,7 +56,7 @@ public class Issue24ChronicleSetTest {
         return init(ChronicleSetBuilder.of(entryClass), entrySize, averageKeySize, fileName);
     }
 
-    @Test(timeout = 1000 * 60)
+    @Test
     public void issue24ChronicleSetTest() {
         ChronicleSet<String> set = initSet(String.class, 1_000_000, 30, "stringSet.dat");
         ExecutorService executor = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(5);