diff --git a/lib/mbtiles.js b/lib/mbtiles.js
index 2bd53b5..e8d8c71 100644
--- a/lib/mbtiles.js
+++ b/lib/mbtiles.js
@@ -55,9 +55,6 @@ function MBTiles(uri, callback) {
     this._batchSize = +uri.query.batch;
     Step(function() {
         mbtiles._db = new sqlite3.Database(mbtiles.filename, this);
-    }, function(err) {
-        if (err) throw err;
-        mbtiles._setup(this);
     }, function(err) {
         if (err) throw err;
         fs.stat(mbtiles.filename, this);
@@ -389,18 +386,24 @@ MBTiles.prototype.startWriting = function(callback) {
     if (typeof callback !== 'function') throw new Error('Callback needed');
     if (!this.open) return callback(new Error('MBTiles not yet loaded'));
 
-    // Sets the synchronous flag to OFF for (much) faster inserts.
-    // See http://www.sqlite3.org/pragma.html#pragma_synchronous
-
     var mbtiles = this;
-    if (!this._isWritable) {
-        this._isWritable = 1;
-        this._clearCaches();
-        this._db.run('PRAGMA synchronous=OFF', callback);
-    } else {
-        this._isWritable++;
-        return callback(null);
-    }
+    Step(function() {
+        mbtiles._setup(this);
+    }, function(err) {
+        if (err) throw err;
+        // Sets the synchronous flag to OFF for (much) faster inserts.
+        // See http://www.sqlite3.org/pragma.html#pragma_synchronous
+        if (!mbtiles._isWritable) {
+            mbtiles._isWritable = 1;
+            mbtiles._clearCaches();
+            mbtiles._db.run('PRAGMA synchronous=OFF', this);
+        } else {
+            mbtiles._isWritable++;
+            this();
+        }
+    }, function(err) {
+        return callback(err);
+    });
 };
 
 MBTiles.prototype._clearCaches = function() {
diff --git a/test/info.test.js b/test/info.test.js
index 2c269d7..475343d 100644
--- a/test/info.test.js
+++ b/test/info.test.js
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ exports['get/put metadata from empty file'] = function(beforeExit) {
 
             assert.deepEqual({
                 basename: "empty.mbtiles",
-                filesize: 16384,
+                filesize: 0,
                 id: "empty",
                 scheme: "tms"
             }, data);
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ exports['get/put metadata from empty file'] = function(beforeExit) {
 
                                 assert.deepEqual({
                                     basename: "empty.mbtiles",
-                                    filesize: 16384,
+                                    filesize: 0,
                                     id: "empty",
                                     scheme: "tms",
                                     version: "1.0.0"