diff --git a/src/core/archive.cpp b/src/core/archive.cpp
index 6075f79..ab4e7cf 100644
--- a/src/core/archive.cpp
+++ b/src/core/archive.cpp
@@ -671,7 +671,8 @@ void cFileArchive::OpenRead(const TCHAR* filename, uint32 openFlags)
         flags |= ( ( openFlags & FA_OPEN_TEXT     ) ? cFile::OPEN_TEXT     : 0 );
         flags |= ( ( openFlags & FA_SCANNING      ) ? cFile::OPEN_SCANNING : 0 );
         flags |= ( ( openFlags & FA_DIRECT        ) ? cFile::OPEN_DIRECT   : 0 );
-        
+
+        mOpenFlags = openFlags; 
         mCurrentFilename = filename;
         mCurrentFile.Open( filename, flags );
         isWritable = false;
@@ -699,6 +700,7 @@ void cFileArchive::OpenReadWrite(const TCHAR* filename, uint32 openFlags)
         flags |= ( ( openFlags & FA_SCANNING      ) ? cFile::OPEN_SCANNING : 0 );
         flags |= ( ( openFlags & FA_DIRECT        ) ? cFile::OPEN_DIRECT   : 0 );
 
+        mOpenFlags = openFlags;
         mCurrentFilename = filename;
         mCurrentFile.Open( filename, flags );
         isWritable = true;
@@ -746,9 +748,10 @@ void cFileArchive::Close()
 /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 int cFileArchive::Read(void* pDest, int count)
 {
+
     try 
     {
-        if ( mReadHead + count > mFileSize )
+        if ( mReadHead + count > mFileSize && !(mOpenFlags & FA_DIRECT))
             count = static_cast<int>( mFileSize - mReadHead );
 
         if ( pDest != NULL )
diff --git a/src/core/archive.h b/src/core/archive.h
index b5e485b..d70d977 100644
--- a/src/core/archive.h
+++ b/src/core/archive.h
@@ -293,6 +293,7 @@ protected:
     bool            isWritable;
     cFile           mCurrentFile;
     TSTRING         mCurrentFilename;                       //current file
+    uint32          mOpenFlags;
 };
 
 ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
diff --git a/src/core/file_unix.cpp b/src/core/file_unix.cpp
index 6a9225d..c5f6b3c 100644
--- a/src/core/file_unix.cpp
+++ b/src/core/file_unix.cpp
@@ -62,22 +62,6 @@
 #include "core/fsservices.h"
 #include "core/errorutil.h"
 
-///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-// util_GetErrnoString -- return the result of strerror(errno) as a tstring
-///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-/*static TSTRING util_GetErrnoString()
-{
-    TSTRING ret;
-    char* pErrorStr = strerror(errno);
-#ifdef _UNICODE
-#error  We dont currently support unicode on unix
-#else
-    ret = pErrorStr;
-#endif
-    return ret;
-}*/
-
-///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 // cFile_i : Insulated implementation for cFile objects.
 ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
@@ -87,6 +71,7 @@ struct cFile_i
     cFile_i();
     ~cFile_i();
 
+    int   m_fd;         //underlying file descriptor
     FILE* mpCurrStream; //currently defined file stream
     TSTRING mFileName;  //the name of the file we are currently referencing.
     uint32 mFlags;      //Flags used to open the file
@@ -218,6 +203,7 @@ void cFile::Open( const TSTRING& sFileNameC, uint32 flags )
     {
         throw( eFileOpen( sFileName, iFSServices::GetInstance()->GetErrString() ) );
     }
+    mpData->m_fd = fh;
 
 #if !IS_AROS
     if( flags & OPEN_LOCKED_TEMP )
@@ -263,7 +249,7 @@ void cFile::Open( const TSTRING& sFileNameC, uint32 flags )
 
 
 #ifdef HAVE_POSIX_FADVISE
-    if (flags & OPEN_SCANNING) 
+    if (flags & OPEN_SCANNING && !(flags & OPEN_DIRECT)) 
     {
         posix_fadvise(fh,0,0, POSIX_FADV_SEQUENTIAL);
         posix_fadvise(fh,0,0, POSIX_FADV_NOREUSE);
@@ -363,12 +349,19 @@ cFile::File_t cFile::Read( void* buffer, File_t nBytes ) const //throw(eFile)
     if( nBytes == 0 )
         return 0;
 
-    iBytesRead = fread( buffer, sizeof(byte), nBytes, mpData->mpCurrStream );
-    
-    if( ferror( mpData->mpCurrStream ) != 0 )
-        throw eFileRead( mpData->mFileName, iFSServices::GetInstance()->GetErrString() ) ;
-    else
-        return iBytesRead;
+    if (mpData->mFlags & OPEN_DIRECT) {
+        iBytesRead = read(mpData->m_fd, buffer, nBytes);
+        if (iBytesRead<0) {
+            throw eFileRead(mpData->mFileName, iFSServices::GetInstance()->GetErrString()); 
+        }
+    } else { 
+        iBytesRead = fread( buffer, sizeof(byte), nBytes, mpData->mpCurrStream );
+        if( ferror( mpData->mpCurrStream ) != 0 ) {
+            throw eFileRead( mpData->mFileName, iFSServices::GetInstance()->GetErrString() ) ; 
+        }
+    }
+
+    return iBytesRead;
 }
 
 ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
diff --git a/src/fco/signature.cpp b/src/fco/signature.cpp
index 0316d5e..e3c9739 100644
--- a/src/fco/signature.cpp
+++ b/src/fco/signature.cpp
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@
 #include <iomanip>
 #include "fcoundefprop.h"
 #include "core/archive.h"
+#include "core/debug.h"
 #ifndef HAVE_OPENSSL_MD5_H
 # ifdef HAVE_STRINGS_H
 # include <strings.h>       /* for bcopy(), this is only needed for Solaris */
@@ -107,10 +108,15 @@ bool  cArchiveSigGen::s_direct = false;
 
 void cArchiveSigGen::SetBlocks( int32 n )
 { 
+    cDebug d("cArchiveSigGen::SetBlocks");
+
     s_blocks=n; 
-    s_base = new byte[iSignature::SUGGESTED_BLOCK_SIZE * (s_blocks+1)]; 
-    unsigned long nMod = (unsigned long)s_base % iSignature::SUGGESTED_BLOCK_SIZE;
-    s_buf = s_base + (iSignature::SUGGESTED_BLOCK_SIZE - nMod);
+    d.TraceDebug("Num blocks = %u\n", s_blocks);
+    s_base = new byte[iSignature::SUGGESTED_BLOCK_SIZE * (s_blocks+2)]; 
+    unsigned long mod = (unsigned long)s_base % iSignature::SUGGESTED_BLOCK_SIZE;
+    unsigned long offset = (iSignature::SUGGESTED_BLOCK_SIZE - mod);
+    d.TraceDebug("mod = %u | offset = %u\n", mod, offset);
+    s_buf = s_base + offset;
     s_bytes = iSignature::SUGGESTED_BLOCK_SIZE * s_blocks;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/tripwire/twcmdline.cpp b/src/tripwire/twcmdline.cpp
index fa02298..a5d048b 100644
--- a/src/tripwire/twcmdline.cpp
+++ b/src/tripwire/twcmdline.cpp
@@ -435,7 +435,7 @@ static void FillOutConfigInfo(cTWModeCommon* pModeInfo, const cConfigFile& cf)
     }
 
 	int blocks = 0;
-    if (cf.Lookup(TSTRING(_T("HASH_DIRECT")), str))
+    if (cf.Lookup(TSTRING(_T("HASH_DIRECT_IO")), str))
     {
         if (_tcsicmp(str.c_str(), _T("true")) == 0)
         {