diff --git a/include/libtorrent/file.hpp b/include/libtorrent/file.hpp
index c147ff599..93b3a294b 100644
--- a/include/libtorrent/file.hpp
+++ b/include/libtorrent/file.hpp
@@ -345,12 +345,6 @@ namespace libtorrent
 		boost::uint32_t m_file_id;
 #endif
 
-#if defined TORRENT_WINDOWS && TORRENT_USE_WSTRING
-		std::wstring m_path;
-#elif defined TORRENT_WINDOWS
-		std::string m_path;
-#endif // TORRENT_WINDOWS
-
 		int m_open_mode;
 #if defined TORRENT_WINDOWS
 		static bool has_manage_volume_privs;
diff --git a/include/libtorrent/storage.hpp b/include/libtorrent/storage.hpp
index a84907a3c..ccd8e94aa 100644
--- a/include/libtorrent/storage.hpp
+++ b/include/libtorrent/storage.hpp
@@ -452,8 +452,6 @@ namespace libtorrent
 
 	private:
 
-		int sparse_end(int start) const;
-
 		void delete_one_file(std::string const& p, error_code& ec);
 
 		void need_partfile();
diff --git a/include/libtorrent/torrent.hpp b/include/libtorrent/torrent.hpp
index 68c994bc9..ed766e86c 100644
--- a/include/libtorrent/torrent.hpp
+++ b/include/libtorrent/torrent.hpp
@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@ namespace libtorrent
 		// the case there is no piece picker, see m_have_all.
 		boost::scoped_ptr<piece_picker> m_picker;
 
-		// TOOD: make this a raw pointer. perhaps keep the shared_ptr
+		// TODO: make this a raw pointer. perhaps keep the shared_ptr
 		// around further down the object to maintain an owner
 		boost::shared_ptr<torrent_info> m_torrent_file;
 
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ namespace libtorrent
 		// use sorted_insert() and sorted_find() on it. The GNU STL
 		// implementation on Darwin uses significantly less memory to
 		// represent a vector than a set, and this set is typically
-		// relaitvely small, and it's cheap to copy pointers.
+		// relatively small, and it's cheap to copy pointers.
 		std::vector<peer_connection*> m_connections;
 
 		// the scrape data from the tracker response, this
diff --git a/src/file.cpp b/src/file.cpp
index 33b7f5d7e..6cc99de01 100644
--- a/src/file.cpp
+++ b/src/file.cpp
@@ -1391,10 +1391,10 @@ namespace libtorrent
 
 #if TORRENT_USE_WSTRING
 #define CreateFile_ CreateFileW
-		m_path = convert_to_wstring(p);
+		std::wstring file_path = convert_to_wstring(p);
 #else
 #define CreateFile_ CreateFileA
-		m_path = convert_to_native(p);
+		std::string file_path = convert_to_native(p);
 #endif
 
 		TORRENT_ASSERT((mode & rw_mask) < sizeof(mode_array)/sizeof(mode_array[0]));
@@ -1411,7 +1411,7 @@ namespace libtorrent
 			| ((mode & direct_io) ? FILE_FLAG_NO_BUFFERING : 0)
 			| ((mode & no_cache) ? FILE_FLAG_WRITE_THROUGH : 0);
 
-		handle_type handle = CreateFile_(m_path.c_str(), m.rw_mode
+		handle_type handle = CreateFile_(file_path.c_str(), m.rw_mode
 			, (mode & lock_file) ? FILE_SHARE_READ : FILE_SHARE_READ | FILE_SHARE_WRITE
 			, 0, m.create_mode, flags, 0);
 
@@ -1635,7 +1635,6 @@ typedef struct _FILE_ALLOCATED_RANGE_BUFFER {
 		}
 
 		CloseHandle(native_handle());
-		m_path.clear();
 #else
 		if (m_file_handle != INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE)
 			::close(m_file_handle);
@@ -2053,26 +2052,21 @@ typedef struct _FILE_ALLOCATED_RANGE_BUFFER {
 
 		if ((m_open_mode & sparse) == 0)
 		{
-#if TORRENT_USE_WSTRING
-			typedef DWORD (WINAPI *GetCompressedFileSize_t)(LPCWSTR lpFileName, LPDWORD lpFileSizeHigh);
-#else
-			typedef DWORD (WINAPI *GetCompressedFileSize_t)(LPCSTR lpFileName, LPDWORD lpFileSizeHigh);
-#endif
+			typedef DWORD (WINAPI *GetFileInformationByHandleEx_t)(HANDLE hFile
+				, FILE_INFO_BY_HANDLE_CLASS FileInformationClass
+				, LPVOID lpFileInformation
+				, DWORD dwBufferSize);
 
-			static GetCompressedFileSize_t GetCompressedFileSize_ = NULL;
+			static GetFileInformationByHandleEx_t GetFileInformationByHandleEx_ = NULL;
 
 			static bool failed_kernel32 = false;
 
-			if ((GetCompressedFileSize_ == NULL) && !failed_kernel32)
+			if ((GetFileInformationByHandleEx_ == NULL) && !failed_kernel32)
 			{
 				HMODULE kernel32 = LoadLibraryA("kernel32.dll");
 				if (kernel32)
 				{
-#if TORRENT_USE_WSTRING
-					GetCompressedFileSize_ = (GetCompressedFileSize_t)GetProcAddress(kernel32, "GetCompressedFileSizeW");
-#else
-					GetCompressedFileSize_ = (GetCompressedFileSize_t)GetProcAddress(kernel32, "GetCompressedFileSizeA");
-#endif
+					GetFileInformationByHandleEx_ = (GetFileInformationByHandleEx_t)GetProcAddress(kernel32, "GetFileInformationByHandleEx");
 				}
 				else
 				{
@@ -2081,18 +2075,18 @@ typedef struct _FILE_ALLOCATED_RANGE_BUFFER {
 			}
 
 			offs.QuadPart = 0;
-			if (GetCompressedFileSize_)
+			if (GetFileInformationByHandleEx_)
 			{
 				// only allocate the space if the file
 				// is not fully allocated
-				DWORD high_dword = 0;
-				offs.LowPart = GetCompressedFileSize_(m_path.c_str(), &high_dword);
-				offs.HighPart = high_dword;
-				if (offs.LowPart == INVALID_FILE_SIZE)
+				FILE_STANDARD_INFO inf;
+				if (GetFileInformationByHandleEx_(native_handle()
+					, FileStandardInfo, &inf, sizeof(inf)) == FALSE)
 				{
 					ec.assign(GetLastError(), system_category());
 					if (ec) return false;
 				}
+				offs = inf.AllocationSize;
 			}
 
 			if (offs.QuadPart != s)
diff --git a/src/storage.cpp b/src/storage.cpp
index 026b1b77d..7f18bb6df 100644
--- a/src/storage.cpp
+++ b/src/storage.cpp
@@ -888,32 +888,6 @@ namespace libtorrent
 		}
 	}
 
-	int default_storage::sparse_end(int piece) const
-	{
-		TORRENT_ASSERT(piece >= 0);
-		TORRENT_ASSERT(piece < files().num_pieces());
-
-		boost::int64_t file_offset = boost::int64_t(piece) * files().piece_length();
-		int file_index = 0;
-
-		for (;;)
-		{
-			if (file_offset < files().file_size(file_index))
-				break;
-
-			file_offset -= files().file_size(file_index);
-			++file_index;
-			TORRENT_ASSERT(file_index != files().num_files());
-		}
-
-		error_code ec;
-		file_handle handle = open_file_impl(file_index, file::read_only, ec);
-		if (ec) return piece;
-
-		boost::int64_t data_start = handle->sparse_end(file_offset);
-		return int((data_start + files().piece_length() - 1) / files().piece_length());
-	}
-
 	bool default_storage::verify_resume_data(bdecode_node const& rd
 		, std::vector<std::string> const* links
 		, storage_error& ec)