diff --git a/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/content/filestore/FileContentStore.java b/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/content/filestore/FileContentStore.java
index 32472a2476..a436329f78 100644
--- a/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/content/filestore/FileContentStore.java
+++ b/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/content/filestore/FileContentStore.java
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ public class FileContentStore extends AbstractContentStore
      * 
      * @see #setReadOnly(boolean)
      */
-    public File createNewFile(String newContentUrl) throws IOException
+    private File createNewFile(String newContentUrl) throws IOException
     {
         if (readOnly)
         {
@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@ public class FileContentStore extends AbstractContentStore
         File dir = file.getParentFile();
         if (!dir.exists())
         {
-            dir.mkdirs();
+            makeDirectory(dir);
         }
         
         // create a new, empty file
@@ -197,6 +197,46 @@ public class FileContentStore extends AbstractContentStore
         return file;
     }
     
+    /**
+     * Synchronized and retrying directory creation.  Repeated attempts will be made to create the
+     * directory, subject to a limit on the number of retries.
+     * 
+     * @param dir               the directory to create
+     * @throws IOException      if an IO error occurs
+     */
+    private synchronized void makeDirectory(File dir) throws IOException
+    {
+        /*
+         * Once in this method, the only contention will be from other file stores or processes.
+         * This is OK as we have retrying to sort it out.
+         */
+        if (dir.exists())
+        {
+            // Beaten to it during synchronization
+            return;
+        }
+        // 20 attempts with 20 ms wait each time
+        for (int i = 0; i < 20; i++)
+        {
+            boolean created = dir.mkdirs();
+            if (created)
+            {
+                // Successfully created
+                return;
+            }
+            // Wait
+            try { this.wait(20L); } catch (InterruptedException e) {}
+            // Did it get created in the meantime
+            if (dir.exists())
+            {
+                // Beaten to it while asleep
+                return;
+            }
+        }
+        // It still didn't succeed
+        throw new ContentIOException("Failed to create directory for file storage: " +  dir);
+    }
+    
     /**
      * Takes the file absolute path, strips off the root path of the store
      * and appends the store URL prefix.
diff --git a/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/node/db/hibernate/HibernateNodeDaoServiceImpl.java b/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/node/db/hibernate/HibernateNodeDaoServiceImpl.java
index d1b2a0f487..3397738835 100644
--- a/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/node/db/hibernate/HibernateNodeDaoServiceImpl.java
+++ b/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/node/db/hibernate/HibernateNodeDaoServiceImpl.java
@@ -1166,6 +1166,7 @@ public class HibernateNodeDaoServiceImpl extends HibernateDaoSupport implements
         // Loop through, extracting content URLs
         List<Serializable> convertedValues = new ArrayList<Serializable>(1000);
         TypeConverter converter = DefaultTypeConverter.INSTANCE;
+        int unflushedCount = 0;
         while(results.next())
         {
             Node node = (Node) results.get()[0];
@@ -1200,8 +1201,13 @@ public class HibernateNodeDaoServiceImpl extends HibernateDaoSupport implements
                     }
                 }
             }
-            // evict all data from the session
-            getSession().clear();
+            unflushedCount++;
+            if (unflushedCount >= 1000)
+            {
+                // evict all data from the session
+                getSession().clear();
+                unflushedCount = 0;
+            }
         }
         return convertedValues;
     }