diff --git a/lib/bcoin/chain.js b/lib/bcoin/chain.js
index 4970f21f..ed3bbd36 100644
--- a/lib/bcoin/chain.js
+++ b/lib/bcoin/chain.js
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ function Chain(options) {
     size: 0
   };
 
-  this._addIndex(ChainBlock.fromJSON(this, {
+  this._saveEntry(ChainBlock.fromJSON(this, {
     hash: network.genesis.hash,
     version: network.genesis.version,
     prevBlock: network.genesis.prevBlock,
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ Chain.prototype._init = function _init() {
     var i, entry;
 
     for (i = 1; i < count; i++)
-      self._addIndex(self.db.get(i));
+      self._saveEntry(self.db.get(i));
 
     self.loading = false;
     self.emit('load');
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ Chain.prototype._init = function _init() {
   });
 };
 
-Chain.prototype._addIndex = function _addIndex(entry, save) {
+Chain.prototype._addEntry = function _addEntry(entry) {
   var self = this;
   var existing;
 
@@ -138,6 +138,12 @@ Chain.prototype._addIndex = function _addIndex(entry, save) {
     }
   }
 
+  this._saveEntry(entry, true);
+
+  return Chain.codes.okay;
+};
+
+Chain.prototype._saveEntry = function _saveEntry(entry, save) {
   if (save)
     this.db.save(entry);
 
@@ -147,8 +153,6 @@ Chain.prototype._addIndex = function _addIndex(entry, save) {
     this.tip = entry;
     this.emit('tip', this.tip);
   }
-
-  return Chain.codes.okay;
 };
 
 Chain.prototype.resetLastCheckpoint = function resetLastCheckpoint(height) {
@@ -323,7 +327,7 @@ Chain.prototype.add = function add(block, peer) {
       }
 
       // Attempt to add block to the chain index.
-      code = this._addIndex(entry, true);
+      code = this._addEntry(entry);
 
       // Result should never be `unchanged` since
       // we already verified there were no
@@ -677,7 +681,7 @@ Chain.prototype.fromJSON = function fromJSON(json) {
   assert.equal(json.network, network.type);
 
   json.entries.forEach(function(entry) {
-    this._addIndex(ChainBlock.fromJSON(this, entry));
+    this._saveEntry(ChainBlock.fromJSON(this, entry));
   }, this);
 };
 
@@ -723,10 +727,12 @@ function ChainDB(chain, options) {
 }
 
 ChainDB.prototype._init = function _init() {
-  try {
-    fs.unlinkSync(this.file);
-  } catch (e) {
-    ;
+  if (+process.env.BCOIN_FRESH === 1) {
+    try {
+      fs.unlinkSync(this.file);
+    } catch (e) {
+      ;
+    }
   }
 
   if (!this.exists()) {
@@ -750,7 +756,7 @@ ChainDB.prototype.getBuffer = function(size) {
 
 ChainDB.prototype.exists = function exists() {
   try {
-    fs.statSync(file);
+    fs.statSync(this.file);
     return true;
   } catch (e) {
     return false;
@@ -774,7 +780,8 @@ ChainDB.prototype.count = function count() {
 ChainDB.prototype.cache = function cache(entry) {
   // Could use this.count() - 1 here as
   // long as we're not using saveAsync.
-  assert.equal(this.tip, this.count() - 1);
+  // if (this.tip !== -1)
+  //   assert.equal(this.tip, this.count() - 1);
   if (entry.height > this.tip) {
     this.tip = entry.height;
     delete this._cache[entry.height - this._cacheWindow];
@@ -934,6 +941,7 @@ ChainDB.prototype._read = function _read(size, offset) {
 
 ChainDB.prototype._writeAsync = function _writeAsync(data, offset, callback) {
   var self = this;
+  var added = Math.max(0, (offset + data.length) - this.size);
   var size = data.length;
   var index = 0;
 
@@ -950,7 +958,7 @@ ChainDB.prototype._writeAsync = function _writeAsync(data, offset, callback) {
       offset += bytes;
 
       if (index === data.length) {
-        self.size += data.length;
+        self.size += added;
         return callback(null, true);
       }
 
@@ -961,6 +969,7 @@ ChainDB.prototype._writeAsync = function _writeAsync(data, offset, callback) {
 
 ChainDB.prototype._write = function _write(data, offset) {
   var size = data.length;
+  var added = Math.max(0, (offset + data.length) - this.size);
   var index = 0;
   var bytes;
 
@@ -972,7 +981,7 @@ ChainDB.prototype._write = function _write(data, offset) {
     size -= bytes;
     offset += bytes;
     if (index === data.length) {
-      this.size += data.length;
+      this.size += added;
       return true;
     }
   }