diff --git a/pkg/blobserver/diskpacked/dele.go b/pkg/blobserver/diskpacked/dele.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..682dc8565
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/blobserver/diskpacked/dele.go
@@ -0,0 +1,111 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2013 The Camlistore Authors
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package diskpacked
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"os"
+	"strconv"
+
+	"camlistore.org/pkg/blob"
+)
+
+var errNoPunch = errors.New("punchHole not supported")
+
+// punchHole, if non-nil, punches a hole in f from offset to offset+size.
+var punchHole func(file *os.File, offset int64, size int64) error
+
+func (s *storage) delete(br blob.Ref) error {
+	meta, err := s.meta(br)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	f, err := os.OpenFile(s.filename(meta.file), os.O_RDWR, 0666)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	defer f.Close()
+
+	// walk back, find the header, and overwrite the hash with xxxx-000000...
+	k := 1 + len(br.String()) + 1 + len(strconv.FormatUint(uint64(meta.size), 10)) + 1
+	off := meta.offset - int64(k)
+	b := make([]byte, k)
+	if k, err = f.ReadAt(b, off); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if b[0] != byte('[') || b[k-1] != byte(']') {
+		return fmt.Errorf("delete: cannot find header surroundings, found %q", b)
+	}
+	b = b[1 : k-1] // "sha1-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx nnnn" - everything between []
+	off += 1
+
+	// Replace b with "xxxx-000000000"
+	dash := bytes.IndexByte(b, '-')
+	if dash < 0 {
+		return fmt.Errorf("delete: cannot find dash in ref %q", b)
+	}
+	space := bytes.IndexByte(b[dash+1:], ' ')
+	if space < 0 {
+		return fmt.Errorf("delete: cannot find space in header %q", b)
+	}
+	for i := 0; i < dash; i++ {
+		b[i] = 'x'
+	}
+	for i := dash + 1; i < dash+1+space; i++ {
+		b[i] = '0'
+	}
+
+	// write back
+	if _, err = f.WriteAt(b, off); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	// punch hole, if possible
+	if punchHole != nil {
+		err = punchHole(f, meta.offset, int64(meta.size))
+		if err == nil {
+			return nil
+		}
+		if err != errNoPunch {
+			return err
+		}
+		// err == errNoPunch - not implemented
+	}
+
+	// fill with zero
+	n, err := f.Seek(meta.offset, os.SEEK_SET)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if n != meta.offset {
+		return fmt.Errorf("error seeking to %d: got %d", meta.offset, n)
+	}
+	_, err = io.CopyN(f, zeroReader{}, int64(meta.size))
+	return err
+}
+
+type zeroReader struct{}
+
+func (z zeroReader) Read(p []byte) (n int, err error) {
+	for i := range p {
+		p[i] = 0
+	}
+	return len(p), nil
+}
diff --git a/pkg/blobserver/diskpacked/diskpacked.go b/pkg/blobserver/diskpacked/diskpacked.go
index ff10b1bf1..e2c8bca64 100644
--- a/pkg/blobserver/diskpacked/diskpacked.go
+++ b/pkg/blobserver/diskpacked/diskpacked.go
@@ -355,9 +355,30 @@ func (s *storage) filename(file int) string {
 	return filepath.Join(s.root, fmt.Sprintf("pack-%05d.blobs", file))
 }
 
+var removeGate = syncutil.NewGate(20) // arbitrary
+
+// RemoveBlobs removes the blobs from index and pads data with zero bytes
 func (s *storage) RemoveBlobs(blobs []blob.Ref) error {
-	// TODO(adg): remove blob from index and pad data with spaces
-	return blobserver.ErrNotImplemented
+	batch := s.index.BeginBatch()
+	var wg syncutil.Group
+	for _, br := range blobs {
+		br := br
+		removeGate.Start()
+		batch.Delete(br.String())
+		wg.Go(func() error {
+			defer removeGate.Done()
+			if err := s.delete(br); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+			return nil
+		})
+	}
+	err1 := wg.Err()
+	err2 := s.index.CommitBatch(batch)
+	if err1 != nil {
+		return err1
+	}
+	return err2
 }
 
 var statGate = syncutil.NewGate(20) // arbitrary
diff --git a/pkg/blobserver/diskpacked/diskpacked_test.go b/pkg/blobserver/diskpacked/diskpacked_test.go
index 7edb6dab9..8326c27ae 100644
--- a/pkg/blobserver/diskpacked/diskpacked_test.go
+++ b/pkg/blobserver/diskpacked/diskpacked_test.go
@@ -17,11 +17,13 @@ limitations under the License.
 package diskpacked
 
 import (
+	"fmt"
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
 
+	"camlistore.org/pkg/blob"
 	"camlistore.org/pkg/blobserver"
 	"camlistore.org/pkg/blobserver/storagetest"
 	"camlistore.org/pkg/jsonconfig"
@@ -50,7 +52,12 @@ func newTempDiskpackedWithIndex(t *testing.T, indexConf jsonconfig.Obj) (sto blo
 	}
 	return s, func() {
 		s.Close()
-		os.RemoveAll(dir)
+
+		if camliDebug {
+			t.Logf("CAMLI_DEBUG set, skipping cleanup of dir %q", dir)
+		} else {
+			os.RemoveAll(dir)
+		}
 	}
 }
 
@@ -107,3 +114,85 @@ func TestDoubleReceive(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("after packfile delete + reupload, not big enough. want size of a blob")
 	}
 }
+
+func TestDelete(t *testing.T) {
+	sto, cleanup := newTempDiskpacked(t)
+	defer cleanup()
+
+	var (
+		A = &test.Blob{Contents: "some small blob"}
+		B = &test.Blob{Contents: strings.Repeat("some middle blob", 100)}
+		C = &test.Blob{Contents: strings.Repeat("A 8192 bytes length largish blob", 8192/32)}
+	)
+
+	type step func() error
+
+	stepAdd := func(tb *test.Blob) step { // add the blob
+		return func() error {
+			sb, err := sto.ReceiveBlob(tb.BlobRef(), tb.Reader())
+			if err != nil {
+				return fmt.Errorf("ReceiveBlob of %s: %v", sb, err)
+			}
+			if sb != tb.SizedRef() {
+				return fmt.Errorf("Received %v; want %v", sb, tb.SizedRef())
+			}
+			return nil
+		}
+	}
+
+	stepCheck := func(want ...*test.Blob) step { // check the blob
+		wantRefs := make([]blob.SizedRef, len(want))
+		for i, tb := range want {
+			wantRefs[i] = tb.SizedRef()
+		}
+		return func() error {
+			if err := storagetest.CheckEnumerate(sto, wantRefs); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+			return nil
+		}
+	}
+
+	stepDelete := func(tb *test.Blob) step {
+		return func() error {
+			if err := sto.RemoveBlobs([]blob.Ref{tb.BlobRef()}); err != nil {
+				return fmt.Errorf("RemoveBlob(%s): %v", tb.BlobRef(), err)
+			}
+			return nil
+		}
+	}
+
+	var deleteTests = [][]step{
+		[]step{
+			stepAdd(A),
+			stepDelete(A),
+			stepCheck(),
+			stepAdd(B),
+			stepCheck(B),
+			stepDelete(B),
+			stepCheck(),
+			stepAdd(C),
+			stepCheck(C),
+			stepAdd(A),
+			stepCheck(A, C),
+			stepDelete(A),
+			stepDelete(C),
+			stepCheck(),
+		},
+		[]step{
+			stepAdd(A),
+			stepAdd(B),
+			stepAdd(C),
+			stepCheck(A, B, C),
+			stepDelete(C),
+			stepCheck(A, B),
+		},
+	}
+	for i, steps := range deleteTests {
+		for j, s := range steps {
+			if err := s(); err != nil {
+				t.Errorf("error at test %d, step %d: %v", i+1, j+1, err)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/pkg/blobserver/diskpacked/punch_linux.go b/pkg/blobserver/diskpacked/punch_linux.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d5e1a85d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/blobserver/diskpacked/punch_linux.go
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2013 Google Inc.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package diskpacked
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"syscall"
+)
+
+const (
+	// FALLOC_FL_KEEP_SIZE: default is extend size
+	falloc_fl_keep_size = 0x01
+
+	// FALLOC_FL_PUNCH_HOLE: de-allocates range
+	falloc_fl_punch_hole = 0x02
+)
+
+func init() {
+	punchHole = punchHoleLinux
+}
+
+// puncHoleLinux punches a hole into the given file starting at offset,
+// measuring "size" bytes
+func punchHoleLinux(file *os.File, offset int64, size int64) error {
+	err := syscall.Fallocate(int(file.Fd()),
+		falloc_fl_punch_hole|falloc_fl_keep_size,
+		offset, size)
+	if err == syscall.ENOSYS || err == syscall.EOPNOTSUPP {
+		return errNoPunch
+	}
+	return err
+}
diff --git a/pkg/blobserver/diskpacked/reindex.go b/pkg/blobserver/diskpacked/reindex.go
index a058b27c4..e9f746f01 100644
--- a/pkg/blobserver/diskpacked/reindex.go
+++ b/pkg/blobserver/diskpacked/reindex.go
@@ -28,11 +28,13 @@ import (
 	"strconv"
 
 	"camlistore.org/pkg/blob"
+	"camlistore.org/pkg/context"
 	"camlistore.org/pkg/sorted"
 	"camlistore.org/pkg/sorted/kvfile"
-	"camlistore.org/third_party/github.com/camlistore/lock"
 )
 
+var camliDebug, _ = strconv.ParseBool(os.Getenv("CAMLI_DEBUG"))
+
 // Reindex rewrites the index files of the diskpacked .pack files
 func Reindex(root string, overwrite bool) (err error) {
 	// there is newStorage, but that may open a file for writing
@@ -51,7 +53,7 @@ func Reindex(root string, overwrite bool) (err error) {
 		}
 	}()
 
-	verbose := false // TODO: use env var?
+	ctx := context.TODO() // TODO(tgulacsi): get the verbosity from context
 	for i := 0; i >= 0; i++ {
 		fh, err := os.Open(s.filename(i))
 		if err != nil {
@@ -60,7 +62,7 @@ func Reindex(root string, overwrite bool) (err error) {
 			}
 			return err
 		}
-		err = reindexOne(index, overwrite, verbose, fh, fh.Name(), i)
+		err = s.reindexOne(ctx, index, overwrite, i)
 		fh.Close()
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
@@ -69,11 +71,98 @@ func Reindex(root string, overwrite bool) (err error) {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func reindexOne(index sorted.KeyValue, overwrite, verbose bool, r io.ReadSeeker, name string, packId int) error {
-	l, err := lock.Lock(name + ".lock")
-	defer l.Close()
+func (s *storage) reindexOne(ctx *context.Context, index sorted.KeyValue, overwrite bool, packID int) error {
 
-	var pos int64
+	var batch sorted.BatchMutation
+	if overwrite {
+		batch = index.BeginBatch()
+	}
+	allOk := true
+
+	// TODO(tgulacsi): proper verbose from context
+	verbose := camliDebug
+	err := s.walkPack(verbose, packID,
+		func(packID int, ref blob.Ref, offset int64, size uint32) error {
+			if !ref.Valid() {
+				if camliDebug {
+					log.Printf("found deleted blob in %d at %d with size %d", packID, offset, size)
+				}
+				return nil
+			}
+			meta := blobMeta{packID, offset, size}.String()
+			if overwrite && batch != nil {
+				batch.Set(ref.String(), meta)
+			} else {
+				if old, err := index.Get(ref.String()); err != nil {
+					allOk = false
+					if err == sorted.ErrNotFound {
+						log.Println(ref.String() + ": cannot find in index!")
+					} else {
+						log.Println(ref.String()+": error getting from index: ", err.Error())
+					}
+				} else if old != meta {
+					allOk = false
+					log.Printf("%s: index mismatch - index=%s data=%s", ref.String(), old, meta)
+				}
+			}
+			return nil
+		})
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	if overwrite && batch != nil {
+		log.Printf("overwriting %s from %d", index, packID)
+		if err = index.CommitBatch(batch); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	} else if !allOk {
+		return fmt.Errorf("index does not match data in %d", packID)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// Walk walks the storage and calls the walker callback with each blobref
+// stops if walker returns non-nil error, and returns that
+func (s *storage) Walk(ctx *context.Context,
+	walker func(packID int, ref blob.Ref, offset int64, size uint32) error) error {
+
+	// TODO(tgulacsi): proper verbose flag from context
+	verbose := camliDebug
+
+	for i := 0; i >= 0; i++ {
+		fh, err := os.Open(s.filename(i))
+		if err != nil {
+			if os.IsNotExist(err) {
+				break
+			}
+			return err
+		}
+		fh.Close()
+		if err = s.walkPack(verbose, i, walker); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// walkPack walks the given pack and calls the walker callback with each blobref.
+// Stops if walker returns non-nil error and returns that.
+func (s *storage) walkPack(verbose bool, packID int,
+	walker func(packID int, ref blob.Ref, offset int64, size uint32) error) error {
+
+	fh, err := os.Open(s.filename(packID))
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	defer fh.Close()
+	name := fh.Name()
+
+	var (
+		pos  int64
+		size uint32
+		ref  blob.Ref
+	)
 
 	errAt := func(prefix, suffix string) error {
 		if prefix != "" {
@@ -85,13 +174,7 @@ func reindexOne(index sorted.KeyValue, overwrite, verbose bool, r io.ReadSeeker,
 		return fmt.Errorf(prefix+"at %d (0x%x) in %q:"+suffix, pos, pos, name)
 	}
 
-	var batch sorted.BatchMutation
-	if overwrite {
-		batch = index.BeginBatch()
-	}
-
-	allOk := true
-	br := bufio.NewReaderSize(r, 512)
+	br := bufio.NewReaderSize(fh, 512)
 	for {
 		if b, err := br.ReadByte(); err != nil {
 			if err == io.EOF {
@@ -114,52 +197,61 @@ func reindexOne(index sorted.KeyValue, overwrite, verbose bool, r io.ReadSeeker,
 		if i <= 0 {
 			return errAt("", fmt.Sprintf("bad header format (no space in %q)", chunk))
 		}
-		size, err := strconv.ParseUint(string(chunk[i+1:]), 10, 32)
+		size64, err := strconv.ParseUint(string(chunk[i+1:]), 10, 32)
 		if err != nil {
 			return errAt(fmt.Sprintf("cannot parse size %q as int", chunk[i+1:]), err.Error())
 		}
-		ref, ok := blob.Parse(string(chunk[:i]))
-		if !ok {
-			return errAt("", fmt.Sprintf("cannot parse %q as blobref", chunk[:i]))
-		}
-		if verbose {
-			log.Printf("found %s at %d", ref, pos)
-		}
+		size = uint32(size64)
 
-		meta := blobMeta{packId, pos + 1 + int64(m), uint32(size)}.String()
-		if overwrite && batch != nil {
-			batch.Set(ref.String(), meta)
-		} else {
-			if old, err := index.Get(ref.String()); err != nil {
-				allOk = false
-				if err == sorted.ErrNotFound {
-					log.Println(ref.String() + ": cannot find in index!")
-				} else {
-					log.Println(ref.String()+": error getting from index: ", err.Error())
+		// maybe deleted?
+		state, deleted := 0, true
+		if chunk[0] == 'x' {
+		Loop:
+			for _, c := range chunk[:i] {
+				switch state {
+				case 0:
+					if c != 'x' {
+						if c == '-' {
+							state++
+						} else {
+							deleted = false
+							break Loop
+						}
+					}
+				case 1:
+					if c != '0' {
+						deleted = false
+						break Loop
+					}
 				}
-			} else if old != meta {
-				allOk = false
-				log.Printf("%s: index mismatch - index=%s data=%s", ref.String(), old, meta)
 			}
 		}
+		if deleted {
+			ref = blob.Ref{}
+			if verbose {
+				log.Printf("found deleted at %d", pos)
+			}
+		} else {
+			ref, ok := blob.Parse(string(chunk[:i]))
+			if !ok {
+				return errAt("", fmt.Sprintf("cannot parse %q as blobref", chunk[:i]))
+			}
+			if verbose {
+				log.Printf("found %s at %d", ref, pos)
+			}
+		}
+		if err = walker(packID, ref, pos+1+int64(m), size); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
 
 		pos += 1 + int64(m)
-		// TODO(tgulacsi78): not just seek, but check the hashes of the files
+		// TODO(tgulacsi): not just seek, but check the hashes of the files
 		// maybe with a different command-line flag, only.
-		if pos, err = r.Seek(pos+int64(size), 0); err != nil {
-			return errAt("", "cannot seek +"+strconv.FormatUint(size, 10)+" bytes")
+		if pos, err = fh.Seek(pos+int64(size), 0); err != nil {
+			return errAt("", "cannot seek +"+strconv.FormatUint(size64, 10)+" bytes")
 		}
 		// drain the buffer after the underlying reader Seeks
 		io.CopyN(ioutil.Discard, br, int64(br.Buffered()))
 	}
-
-	if overwrite && batch != nil {
-		log.Printf("overwriting %s from %s", index, name)
-		if err = index.CommitBatch(batch); err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
-	} else if !allOk {
-		return fmt.Errorf("index does not match data in %q", name)
-	}
 	return nil
 }
diff --git a/pkg/blobserver/storagetest/storagetest.go b/pkg/blobserver/storagetest/storagetest.go
index 3e682f470..f9bb104e2 100644
--- a/pkg/blobserver/storagetest/storagetest.go
+++ b/pkg/blobserver/storagetest/storagetest.go
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ func testSizedBlob(t *testing.T, r io.Reader, b1 blob.Ref, size int64) {
 	}
 }
 
-func testEnumerate(t *testing.T, sto blobserver.Storage, wantUnsorted []blob.SizedRef, opts ...interface{}) {
+func CheckEnumerate(sto blobserver.Storage, wantUnsorted []blob.SizedRef, opts ...interface{}) error {
 	var after string
 	var n = 1000
 	for _, opt := range opts {
@@ -207,16 +207,22 @@ func testEnumerate(t *testing.T, sto blobserver.Storage, wantUnsorted []blob.Siz
 
 	})
 	if err := grp.Err(); err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("Enumerate error: %v", err)
-		return
+		return fmt.Errorf("Enumerate error: %v", err)
 	}
 	if len(got) == 0 && len(want) == 0 {
-		return
+		return nil
 	}
 	if !reflect.DeepEqual(got, want) {
-		t.Fatalf("Enumerate mismatch. Got %d; want %d.\n Got: %v\nWant: %v\n",
+		return fmt.Errorf("Enumerate mismatch. Got %d; want %d.\n Got: %v\nWant: %v\n",
 			len(got), len(want), got, want)
 	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func testEnumerate(t *testing.T, sto blobserver.Storage, wantUnsorted []blob.SizedRef, opts ...interface{}) {
+	if err := CheckEnumerate(sto, wantUnsorted, opts...); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("%v", err)
+	}
 }
 
 func testStat(t *testing.T, enum <-chan blob.SizedRef, want []blob.SizedRef) {