diff --git a/weed/pb/volume_info.go b/weed/pb/volume_info.go
index c4f733f5c..cae9e018f 100644
--- a/weed/pb/volume_info.go
+++ b/weed/pb/volume_info.go
@@ -15,40 +15,49 @@ import (
 )
 
 // MaybeLoadVolumeInfo load the file data as *volume_server_pb.VolumeInfo, the returned volumeInfo will not be nil
-func MaybeLoadVolumeInfo(fileName string) (*volume_server_pb.VolumeInfo, bool, error) {
+func MaybeLoadVolumeInfo(fileName string) (volumeInfo *volume_server_pb.VolumeInfo, hasRemoteFile bool, hasVolumeInfoFile bool, err error) {
 
-	volumeInfo := &volume_server_pb.VolumeInfo{}
+	volumeInfo = &volume_server_pb.VolumeInfo{}
 
 	glog.V(1).Infof("maybeLoadVolumeInfo checks %s", fileName)
 	if exists, canRead, _, _, _ := util.CheckFile(fileName); !exists || !canRead {
 		if !exists {
-			return volumeInfo, false, nil
+			return
 		}
+		hasVolumeInfoFile = true
 		if !canRead {
 			glog.Warningf("can not read %s", fileName)
-			return volumeInfo, false, fmt.Errorf("can not read %s", fileName)
+			err = fmt.Errorf("can not read %s", fileName)
+			return
 		}
-		return volumeInfo, false, nil
+		return
 	}
 
+	hasVolumeInfoFile = true
+
 	glog.V(1).Infof("maybeLoadVolumeInfo reads %s", fileName)
 	tierData, readErr := ioutil.ReadFile(fileName)
 	if readErr != nil {
 		glog.Warningf("fail to read %s : %v", fileName, readErr)
-		return volumeInfo, false, fmt.Errorf("fail to read %s : %v", fileName, readErr)
+		err = fmt.Errorf("fail to read %s : %v", fileName, readErr)
+		return
+
 	}
 
 	glog.V(1).Infof("maybeLoadVolumeInfo Unmarshal volume info %v", fileName)
-	if err := jsonpb.Unmarshal(bytes.NewReader(tierData), volumeInfo); err != nil {
+	if err = jsonpb.Unmarshal(bytes.NewReader(tierData), volumeInfo); err != nil {
 		glog.Warningf("unmarshal error: %v", err)
-		return volumeInfo, false, fmt.Errorf("unmarshal error: %v", err)
+		err = fmt.Errorf("unmarshal error: %v", err)
+		return
 	}
 
 	if len(volumeInfo.GetFiles()) == 0 {
-		return volumeInfo, false, nil
+		return
 	}
 
-	return volumeInfo, true, nil
+	hasRemoteFile = true
+
+	return
 }
 
 func SaveVolumeInfo(fileName string, volumeInfo *volume_server_pb.VolumeInfo) error {
diff --git a/weed/storage/erasure_coding/ec_volume.go b/weed/storage/erasure_coding/ec_volume.go
index 85d6a5fc8..171db92a4 100644
--- a/weed/storage/erasure_coding/ec_volume.go
+++ b/weed/storage/erasure_coding/ec_volume.go
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ func NewEcVolume(diskType types.DiskType, dir string, dirIdx string, collection
 
 	// read volume info
 	ev.Version = needle.Version3
-	if volumeInfo, found, _ := pb.MaybeLoadVolumeInfo(dataBaseFileName + ".vif"); found {
+	if volumeInfo, _, found, _ := pb.MaybeLoadVolumeInfo(dataBaseFileName + ".vif"); found {
 		ev.Version = needle.Version(volumeInfo.Version)
 	} else {
 		pb.SaveVolumeInfo(dataBaseFileName+".vif", &volume_server_pb.VolumeInfo{Version: uint32(ev.Version)})
diff --git a/weed/storage/store.go b/weed/storage/store.go
index a67c43a90..fb33a708c 100644
--- a/weed/storage/store.go
+++ b/weed/storage/store.go
@@ -456,7 +456,7 @@ func (s *Store) ConfigureVolume(i needle.VolumeId, replication string) error {
 		// load, modify, save
 		baseFileName := strings.TrimSuffix(fileInfo.Name(), filepath.Ext(fileInfo.Name()))
 		vifFile := filepath.Join(location.Directory, baseFileName+".vif")
-		volumeInfo, _, err := pb.MaybeLoadVolumeInfo(vifFile)
+		volumeInfo, _, _, err := pb.MaybeLoadVolumeInfo(vifFile)
 		if err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("volume %d fail to load vif", i)
 		}
diff --git a/weed/storage/volume_tier.go b/weed/storage/volume_tier.go
index da93221b2..23160906b 100644
--- a/weed/storage/volume_tier.go
+++ b/weed/storage/volume_tier.go
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ func (v *Volume) GetVolumeInfo() *volume_server_pb.VolumeInfo {
 func (v *Volume) maybeLoadVolumeInfo() (found bool) {
 
 	var err error
-	v.volumeInfo, v.hasRemoteFile, err = pb.MaybeLoadVolumeInfo(v.FileName(".vif"))
+	v.volumeInfo, v.hasRemoteFile, found, err = pb.MaybeLoadVolumeInfo(v.FileName(".vif"))
 
 	if v.volumeInfo.Version == 0 {
 		v.volumeInfo.Version = uint32(needle.CurrentVersion)
@@ -29,10 +29,10 @@ func (v *Volume) maybeLoadVolumeInfo() (found bool) {
 
 	if err != nil {
 		glog.Warningf("load volume %d.vif file: %v", v.Id, err)
-		return false
+		return
 	}
 
-	return true
+	return
 
 }