diff --git a/src/mem.cpp b/src/mem.cpp
index d0351eae..ca200878 100644
--- a/src/mem.cpp
+++ b/src/mem.cpp
@@ -68,11 +68,7 @@ unsigned MemBuffer::getSize() const
 
 void MemBuffer::alloc(unsigned size, unsigned base_offset)
 {
-#if 0
-    this->dealloc();
-#else
-    // don't automaticlly free a used buffer
-#endif
+    // NOTE: we don't automaticlly free a used buffer
     assert(alloc_ptr == NULL);
     assert((int)size > 0);
     size = base_offset + size;
@@ -96,12 +92,14 @@ void MemBuffer::alloc(unsigned size)
 
 void MemBuffer::allocForCompression(unsigned uncompressed_size)
 {
+    assert((int)uncompressed_size > 0);
     alloc(uncompressed_size + uncompressed_size/8 + 256, 0);
 }
 
 
 void MemBuffer::allocForUncompression(unsigned uncompressed_size)
 {
+    assert((int)uncompressed_size > 0);
     //alloc(uncompressed_size + 3 + 512, 0);  // 512 safety bytes
     alloc(uncompressed_size + 3, 0);  // 3 bytes for asm_fast decompresion
 }