diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index e4a8695a1..e4dd73cf1 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+	* don't create all directories up front when adding torrents
 	* support DHT scrape
 	* added support for fadvise/F_RDADVISE for improved disk read performance
 	* introduced pop_alerts() which pops the entire alert queue in a single call
diff --git a/src/storage.cpp b/src/storage.cpp
index e9bb7305f..5820618b3 100644
--- a/src/storage.cpp
+++ b/src/storage.cpp
@@ -453,17 +453,6 @@ namespace libtorrent
 		for (file_storage::iterator file_iter = files().begin(),
 			end_iter = files().end(); file_iter != end_iter; ++file_iter)
 		{
-			std::string file_path = combine_path(m_save_path, files().file_path(*file_iter));
-			std::string dir = parent_path(file_path);
-
-			if (dir != last_path)
-			{
-				last_path = dir;
-
-				if (!is_directory(last_path, ec))
-					create_directories(last_path, ec);
-			}
-
 			int file_index = files().file_index(*file_iter);
 
 			// ignore files that have priority 0
@@ -473,6 +462,8 @@ namespace libtorrent
 			// ignore pad files
 			if (file_iter->pad_file) continue;
 
+			std::string file_path = combine_path(m_save_path, files().file_path(*file_iter));
+
 			file_status s;
 			stat_file(file_path, &s, ec);
 			if (ec && ec != boost::system::errc::no_such_file_or_directory
@@ -489,7 +480,21 @@ namespace libtorrent
 			// if the file is empty, just create it either way.
 			if ((ec && allocate_files) || (!ec && s.file_size > file_iter->size) || file_iter->size == 0)
 			{
+				std::string dir = parent_path(file_path);
+
+				if (dir != last_path)
+				{
+					last_path = dir;
+
+					create_directories(last_path, ec);
+					if (ec)
+					{
+						set_error(dir, ec);
+						break;
+					}
+				}
 				ec.clear();
+
 				boost::intrusive_ptr<file> f = open_file(file_iter, file::read_write, ec);
 				if (ec) set_error(file_path, ec);
 				else if (f)