diff --git a/kmod/src/data.c b/kmod/src/data.c
index bae06b3c..16f3b20e 100644
--- a/kmod/src/data.c
+++ b/kmod/src/data.c
@@ -692,15 +692,19 @@ int scoutfs_data_truncate_items(struct super_block *sb, struct inode *inode,
 
 				map->blknos[i] = 0;
 				scoutfs_inode_add_online_blocks(inode, -1);
+				/* XXX gets tricky with concurrent writes */
+				inode->i_blocks -= SCOUTFS_BLOCK_SECTORS;
 			}
 
 			if (offline && !test_bit(i, map->offline)) {
 				set_bit(i, map->offline);
 				scoutfs_inode_add_offline_blocks(inode, 1);
+				inode->i_blocks += SCOUTFS_BLOCK_SECTORS;
 
 			} else if (!offline && test_bit(i, map->offline)) {
 				clear_bit(i, map->offline);
 				scoutfs_inode_add_offline_blocks(inode, -1);
+				inode->i_blocks -= SCOUTFS_BLOCK_SECTORS;
 			}
 
 			modified = true;
@@ -983,10 +987,13 @@ static int find_alloc_block(struct super_block *sb, struct inode *inode,
 		goto out;
 
 	/* update the mapping */
-	if (test_and_clear_bit(map_ind, map->offline))
+	if (test_and_clear_bit(map_ind, map->offline)) {
 		scoutfs_inode_add_offline_blocks(inode, -1);
+		inode->i_blocks -= SCOUTFS_BLOCK_SECTORS;
+	}
 	map->blknos[map_ind] = blkno;
 	scoutfs_inode_add_online_blocks(inode, 1);
+	inode->i_blocks += SCOUTFS_BLOCK_SECTORS;
 
 	bytes = encode_mapping(map);
 	scoutfs_kvec_init(val, map->encoded, bytes);
diff --git a/kmod/src/format.h b/kmod/src/format.h
index bb8d674a..99241394 100644
--- a/kmod/src/format.h
+++ b/kmod/src/format.h
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@
 #define SCOUTFS_BLOCK_SIZE (1 << SCOUTFS_BLOCK_SHIFT)
 #define SCOUTFS_BLOCK_MASK (SCOUTFS_BLOCK_SIZE - 1)
 #define SCOUTFS_BLOCKS_PER_PAGE (PAGE_SIZE / SCOUTFS_BLOCK_SIZE)
+#define SCOUTFS_BLOCK_SECTOR_SHIFT (SCOUTFS_BLOCK_SHIFT - 9)
+#define SCOUTFS_BLOCK_SECTORS (1 << SCOUTFS_BLOCK_SECTOR_SHIFT)
 
 /*
  * FS data is stored in segments, for now they're fixed size. They'll
@@ -464,7 +466,6 @@ struct scoutfs_timespec {
  */
 struct scoutfs_inode {
 	__le64 size;
-	__le64 blocks;
 	__le64 meta_seq;
 	__le64 data_seq;
 	__le64 data_version;
diff --git a/kmod/src/inode.c b/kmod/src/inode.c
index 2146ed9c..965afbde 100644
--- a/kmod/src/inode.c
+++ b/kmod/src/inode.c
@@ -234,9 +234,15 @@ static void load_inode(struct inode *inode, struct scoutfs_inode *cinode)
 	ci->online_blocks = le64_to_cpu(cinode->online_blocks);
 	ci->offline_blocks = le64_to_cpu(cinode->offline_blocks);
 	ci->next_readdir_pos = le64_to_cpu(cinode->next_readdir_pos);
-
 	ci->flags = le32_to_cpu(cinode->flags);
 
+	/*
+	 * i_blocks is initialized from online and offline and is then
+	 * maintained as blocks come and go.
+	 */
+	inode->i_blocks = (ci->online_blocks = + ci->offline_blocks)
+				<< SCOUTFS_BLOCK_SECTOR_SHIFT;
+
 	set_item_info(ci, cinode);
 }