diff --git a/innobase/fil/fil0fil.c b/innobase/fil/fil0fil.c
index 38d06c5bfba..e1e19ec467c 100644
--- a/innobase/fil/fil0fil.c
+++ b/innobase/fil/fil0fil.c
@@ -1409,6 +1409,7 @@ fil_read_flushed_lsn_and_arch_log_no(
 	byte*	buf;
 	byte*	buf2;
 	dulint	flushed_lsn;
+
 	buf2 = ut_malloc(2 * UNIV_PAGE_SIZE);
 	/* Align the memory for a possible read from a raw device */
 	buf = ut_align(buf2, UNIV_PAGE_SIZE);
@@ -1852,8 +1853,6 @@ try_again:
 		success = os_file_delete(path);
 	}
 
-	mem_free(path);
-
 	if (success) {
 #ifndef UNIV_HOTBACKUP
 		/* Write a log record about the deletion of the .ibd
@@ -1869,9 +1868,13 @@ try_again:
 		fil_op_write_log(MLOG_FILE_DELETE, id, path, NULL, &mtr);
 		mtr_commit(&mtr);
 #endif
+		mem_free(path);
+
 		return(TRUE);
 	}
 
+	mem_free(path);
+
 	return(FALSE);
 }
 
@@ -2148,6 +2151,7 @@ fil_create_new_single_table_tablespace(
 	os_file_t       file;
 	ibool		ret;
 	ulint		err;
+	byte*		buf2;
 	byte*		page;
 	ibool		success;
 	char*		path;
@@ -2191,12 +2195,14 @@ fil_create_new_single_table_tablespace(
 		return(DB_ERROR);
 	}
 
-	page = ut_malloc(UNIV_PAGE_SIZE);
+	buf2 = ut_malloc(2 * UNIV_PAGE_SIZE);
+	/* Align the memory for file i/o if we might have O_DIRECT set */
+	page = ut_align(buf2, UNIV_PAGE_SIZE);
 
 	ret = os_file_set_size(path, file, size * UNIV_PAGE_SIZE, 0);
 	
 	if (!ret) {
-		ut_free(page);
+		ut_free(buf2);
 		os_file_close(file);
 		os_file_delete(path);
 
@@ -2211,7 +2217,7 @@ fil_create_new_single_table_tablespace(
 	/* printf("Creating tablespace %s id %lu\n", path, *space_id); */
 
 	if (*space_id == ULINT_UNDEFINED) {
-		ut_free(page);
+		ut_free(buf2);
 	error_exit:
 		os_file_close(file);
 		os_file_delete(path);
@@ -2237,7 +2243,7 @@ fil_create_new_single_table_tablespace(
 
 	ret = os_file_write(path, file, page, 0, 0, UNIV_PAGE_SIZE);
 
-	ut_free(page);
+	ut_free(buf2);
 
 	if (!ret) {
 		fprintf(stderr,
@@ -2308,6 +2314,7 @@ fil_reset_too_high_lsns(
 	os_file_t	file;
 	char*		filepath;
 	byte*		page;
+	byte*		buf2;
 	dulint		flush_lsn;
 	ulint		space_id;
 	ib_longlong	file_size;
@@ -2320,14 +2327,16 @@ fil_reset_too_high_lsns(
 	file = os_file_create_simple_no_error_handling(filepath, OS_FILE_OPEN,
 						OS_FILE_READ_WRITE, &success);
 	if (!success) {
-		ut_free(filepath);
+		mem_free(filepath);
 
 		return(FALSE);
 	}
 
 	/* Read the first page of the tablespace */
 
-	page = ut_malloc(UNIV_PAGE_SIZE);
+	buf2 = ut_malloc(2 * UNIV_PAGE_SIZE);
+	/* Align the memory for file i/o if we might have O_DIRECT set */
+	page = ut_align(buf2, UNIV_PAGE_SIZE);
 
 	success = os_file_read(file, page, 0, 0, UNIV_PAGE_SIZE);
 	if (!success) {
@@ -2414,8 +2423,8 @@ fil_reset_too_high_lsns(
 	success = os_file_flush(file);
 func_exit:
 	os_file_close(file);
-	ut_free(page);
-	ut_free(filepath);
+	ut_free(buf2);
+	mem_free(filepath);
 
 	return(success);
 }
@@ -2440,6 +2449,7 @@ fil_open_single_table_tablespace(
 	os_file_t	file;
 	char*		filepath;
 	ibool		success;
+	byte*		buf2;
 	byte*		page;
 	ulint		space_id;
 	ibool		ret		= TRUE;
@@ -2463,14 +2473,16 @@ fil_open_single_table_tablespace(
 "InnoDB: You can look from section 15.1 of http://www.innodb.com/ibman.html\n"
 "InnoDB: how to resolve the issue.\n");
 
-		ut_free(filepath);
+		mem_free(filepath);
 
 		return(FALSE);
 	}
 
 	/* Read the first page of the tablespace */
 
-	page = ut_malloc(UNIV_PAGE_SIZE);
+	buf2 = ut_malloc(2 * UNIV_PAGE_SIZE);
+	/* Align the memory for file i/o if we might have O_DIRECT set */
+	page = ut_align(buf2, UNIV_PAGE_SIZE);
 
 	success = os_file_read(file, page, 0, 0, UNIV_PAGE_SIZE);
 
@@ -2507,8 +2519,8 @@ fil_open_single_table_tablespace(
 	fil_node_create(filepath, 0, space_id, FALSE);
 func_exit:
 	os_file_close(file);
-	ut_free(page);
-	ut_free(filepath);
+	ut_free(buf2);
+	mem_free(filepath);
 
 	return(ret);
 }
@@ -2516,7 +2528,7 @@ func_exit:
 #ifdef UNIV_HOTBACKUP
 /***********************************************************************
 Allocates a file name for an old version of a single-table tablespace.
-The string must be freed by caller with mem_free(). */
+The string must be freed by caller with ut_free(), NOT with mem_free()! */
 static
 char*
 fil_make_ibbackup_old_name(
@@ -2549,6 +2561,7 @@ fil_load_single_table_tablespace(
 	os_file_t	file;
 	char*		filepath;
 	ibool		success;
+	byte*		buf2;
 	byte*		page;
 	ulint		space_id;
 	ulint		size_low;
@@ -2655,7 +2668,9 @@ fil_load_single_table_tablespace(
 #endif
 	/* Read the first page of the tablespace if the size big enough */
 
-	page = ut_malloc(UNIV_PAGE_SIZE);
+	buf2 = ut_malloc(2 * UNIV_PAGE_SIZE);
+	/* Align the memory for file i/o if we might have O_DIRECT set */
+	page = ut_align(buf2, UNIV_PAGE_SIZE);
 
 	if (size >= FIL_IBD_FILE_INITIAL_SIZE * UNIV_PAGE_SIZE) {
 		success = os_file_read(file, page, 0, 0, UNIV_PAGE_SIZE);
@@ -2691,7 +2706,7 @@ fil_load_single_table_tablespace(
 		new_path = fil_make_ibbackup_old_name(filepath);
 		ut_a(os_file_rename(filepath, new_path));
 
-		ut_free(page);
+		ut_free(buf2);
 		ut_free(filepath);
 		ut_free(new_path);
 
@@ -2727,7 +2742,7 @@ fil_load_single_table_tablespace(
 
 		ut_a(os_file_rename(filepath, new_path));
 
-		ut_free(page);
+		ut_free(buf2);
 		ut_free(filepath);
 		ut_free(new_path);
 
@@ -2748,7 +2763,7 @@ fil_load_single_table_tablespace(
 	fil_node_create(filepath, 0, space_id, FALSE);
 func_exit:
 	os_file_close(file);
-	ut_free(page);
+	ut_free(buf2);
 	ut_free(filepath);
 }
 
@@ -2767,7 +2782,7 @@ fil_load_single_table_tablespaces(void)
 {
 	int		ret;
 	char*		dbpath		= NULL;
-	ulint		dbpath_len	= 0;
+	ulint		dbpath_len	= 100;
 	os_file_dir_t	dir;
 	os_file_dir_t	dbdir;
 	os_file_stat_t	dbinfo;
@@ -2782,7 +2797,7 @@ fil_load_single_table_tablespaces(void)
 		return(DB_ERROR);
 	}
 
-	dbpath = ut_malloc(dbpath_len);
+	dbpath = mem_alloc(dbpath_len);
 
 	/* Scan all directories under the datadir. They are the database
 	directories of MySQL. */
@@ -2806,10 +2821,10 @@ fil_load_single_table_tablespaces(void)
 				+ strlen (dbinfo.name) + 2;
 		if (len > dbpath_len) {
 			dbpath_len = len;
+
 			if (!dbpath) {
 				dbpath = mem_alloc(dbpath_len);
-			}
-			else {
+			} else {
 				dbpath = mem_realloc(dbpath, dbpath_len,
 							__FILE__, __LINE__);
 			}
@@ -2863,9 +2878,7 @@ next_datadir_item:
 								dir, &dbinfo);
 	}
 
-	if (dbpath) {
-		ut_free(dbpath);
-	}
+	mem_free(dbpath);
 
 	/* At the end of directory we should get 1 as the return value, -1
 	if there was an error */
@@ -3280,7 +3293,7 @@ fil_extend_space_to_desired_size(
 /************************************************************************
 Extends all tablespaces to the size stored in the space header. During the
 ibbackup --apply-log phase we extended the spaces on-demand so that log records
-could be appllied, but that may have left spaces still too small compared to
+could be applied, but that may have left spaces still too small compared to
 the size stored in the space header. */
 
 void
diff --git a/innobase/os/os0file.c b/innobase/os/os0file.c
index fafed2a484c..57e9690d990 100644
--- a/innobase/os/os0file.c
+++ b/innobase/os/os0file.c
@@ -2341,21 +2341,24 @@ os_file_dirname(
 				pathname */
 	const char*	path)	/* in: pathname */
 {
-	/* find the offset of the last slash */
+	/* Find the offset of the last slash */
 	const char* last_slash = strrchr(path, OS_FILE_PATH_SEPARATOR);
 	if (!last_slash) {
-		/* no slash in the path, return "." */
+		/* No slash in the path, return "." */
+
 		return(mem_strdup("."));
 	}
 
-	/* ok, there is a slash */
+	/* Ok, there is a slash */
 
 	if (last_slash == path) {
 		/* last slash is the first char of the path */
+
 		return(mem_strdup("/"));
 	}
 
-	/* non-trivial directory component */
+	/* Non-trivial directory component */
+
 	return(mem_strdupl(path, last_slash - path));
 }
 	
@@ -2377,23 +2380,26 @@ os_file_create_subdirs_if_needed(
 	if (strlen(subdir) == 1
 	    && (*subdir == OS_FILE_PATH_SEPARATOR || *subdir == '.')) {
 		/* subdir is root or cwd, nothing to do */
-		ut_free(subdir);
+		mem_free(subdir);
+
 		return(TRUE);
 	}
 
-	/* test if subdir exists */
+	/* Test if subdir exists */
 	success = os_file_status(subdir, &subdir_exists, &type);
 	if (success && !subdir_exists) {
 		/* subdir does not exist, create it */
 		success = os_file_create_subdirs_if_needed(subdir);
 		if (!success) {
-			ut_free(subdir);
+			mem_free(subdir);
+
 			return(FALSE);
 		}
 		success = os_file_create_directory(subdir, FALSE);
 	}
 
-	ut_free(subdir);
+	mem_free(subdir);
+
 	return(success);
 }