diff --git a/lib/storage/file.js b/lib/storage/file.js
index 00222c3f6..db7871ef0 100644
--- a/lib/storage/file.js
+++ b/lib/storage/file.js
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ const CHANNEL_WRITE_WINDOW = 300000;
     them. The tradeoff with this timeout is that some functions, the stream, and
     and the timeout itself are stored in memory. A longer timeout uses more memory
     and running out of memory will also kill the server. */
-const STREAM_CLOSE_TIMEOUT = 300000;
+const STREAM_CLOSE_TIMEOUT = 120000;
 
 /*  The above timeout closes the stream, but apparently that doesn't always work.
     We set yet another timeout to allow the runtime to gracefully close the stream
@@ -83,15 +83,31 @@ var channelExists = function (filepath, cb) {
 
 const destroyStream = function (stream) {
     if (!stream) { return; }
-    try { stream.close(); } catch (err) { console.error(err); }
+    try {
+        stream.close();
+        if (stream.closed && stream.fd === null) { return; }
+    } catch (err) {
+        console.error(err);
+    }
     setTimeout(function () {
         try { stream.destroy(); } catch (err) { console.error(err); }
     }, STREAM_DESTROY_TIMEOUT);
 };
 
+/*
+    accept a stream, an id (used as a label) and an optional number of milliseconds
+
+    return a function which ignores all arguments
+    and first tries to gracefully close a stream
+        then destroys it after a period if the close was not successful
+    if the function is not called within the specified number of milliseconds
+        then it will be called implicitly with an error to indicate
+        that it was run because it timed out
+
+*/
 const ensureStreamCloses = function (stream, id, ms) {
     return Util.bake(Util.mkTimeout(Util.once(function (err) {
-        destroyStream(stream, id);
+        destroyStream(stream);
         if (err) {
             // this can only be a timeout error...
             console.log("stream close error:", err, id);
@@ -106,7 +122,7 @@ const ensureStreamCloses = function (stream, id, ms) {
 // it also allows the handler to abort reading at any time
 const readMessagesBin = (env, id, start, msgHandler, cb) => {
     const stream = Fs.createReadStream(mkPath(env, id), { start: start });
-    const finish = ensureStreamCloses(stream, id);
+    const finish = ensureStreamCloses(stream, '[readMessagesBin:' + id + ']');
     return void readFileBin(stream, msgHandler, function (err) {
         cb(err);
         finish();
@@ -117,7 +133,7 @@ const readMessagesBin = (env, id, start, msgHandler, cb) => {
 // returns undefined if the first message was not an object (not an array)
 var getMetadataAtPath = function (Env, path, _cb) {
     const stream = Fs.createReadStream(path, { start: 0 });
-    const finish = ensureStreamCloses(stream, path);
+    const finish = ensureStreamCloses(stream, '[getMetadataAtPath:' + path + ']');
     var cb = Util.once(Util.mkAsync(Util.both(_cb, finish)), function () {
         throw new Error("Multiple Callbacks");
     });
@@ -203,7 +219,7 @@ var clearChannel = function (env, channelId, _cb) {
 */
 var readMessages = function (path, msgHandler, _cb) {
     var stream = Fs.createReadStream(path, { start: 0});
-    const finish = ensureStreamCloses(stream, path);
+    const finish = ensureStreamCloses(stream, '[readMessages:' + path + ']');
     var cb = Util.once(Util.mkAsync(Util.both(finish, _cb)));
 
     return readFileBin(stream, function (msgObj, readMore) {
@@ -231,7 +247,7 @@ var getDedicatedMetadata = function (env, channelId, handler, _cb) {
     var metadataPath = mkMetadataPath(env, channelId);
     var stream = Fs.createReadStream(metadataPath, {start: 0});
 
-    const finish = ensureStreamCloses(stream, metadataPath);
+    const finish = ensureStreamCloses(stream, '[getDedicatedMetadata:' + metadataPath + ']');
     var cb = Util.both(finish, _cb);
 
     readFileBin(stream, function (msgObj, readMore) {