diff --git a/ethcore/src/client/client.rs b/ethcore/src/client/client.rs
index de42c2a72..6e9e04e85 100644
--- a/ethcore/src/client/client.rs
+++ b/ethcore/src/client/client.rs
@@ -760,6 +760,8 @@ impl<V> BlockChainClient for Client<V> where V: Verifier {
 		let best_header_bytes = self.best_block_header();
 		let best_header = HeaderView::new(&best_header_bytes);
 
+		trace!(target: "pv64_snapshot", "Taking snapshot starting at block {}", best_header.number());
+
 		let mut manifest_hashes = Vec::new();
 
 		// lock the state db while we create the state chunks.
@@ -774,7 +776,7 @@ impl<V> BlockChainClient for Client<V> where V: Verifier {
 
 		let mut path = root_dir.to_owned();
 		path.push("snapshot/");
-		::std::fs::create_dir(&path).unwrap();
+		let _ = ::std::fs::create_dir(&path);
 
 		let block_chunk_hashes = BlockChunker::new(self, best_hash, genesis_hash).chunk_all(&path);
 		for hash in block_chunk_hashes {
diff --git a/ethcore/src/pv64/mod.rs b/ethcore/src/pv64/mod.rs
index 39b46eda7..848364d9d 100644
--- a/ethcore/src/pv64/mod.rs
+++ b/ethcore/src/pv64/mod.rs
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ impl<'a> BlockChunker<'a> {
 	// This will return true if it created a block chunk, false otherwise.
 	fn fill_buffers(&mut self) -> bool {
 		let mut loaded_size = 0;
+		let mut blocks_loaded = 0;
 
 		while loaded_size < PREFERRED_CHUNK_SIZE && self.current_hash != self.genesis_hash {
 
@@ -80,9 +81,14 @@ impl<'a> BlockChunker<'a> {
 			self.current_hash = BlockView::new(&block).header_view().parent_hash();
 
 			self.rlps.push_front((block, receipts));
+			blocks_loaded += 1;
 		}
 
-		loaded_size == 0
+		if blocks_loaded > 0 {
+			trace!(target: "pv64_snapshot", "prepared block chunk with {} blocks", blocks_loaded);
+		}
+
+		loaded_size != 0
 	}
 
 	// write out the data in the buffers to a chunk on disk
@@ -96,6 +102,8 @@ impl<'a> BlockChunker<'a> {
 		let raw_data = rlp_stream.out();
 		let hash = raw_data.sha3();
 
+		trace!(target: "pv64_snapshot", "writing block chunk. hash: {},  size: {} bytes", hash.hex(), raw_data.len());
+
 		let mut file_path = path.to_owned();
 		file_path.push(hash.hex());