diff --git a/sstables/sstables.cc b/sstables/sstables.cc
index 1cbfc88d63..0f97db0e24 100644
--- a/sstables/sstables.cc
+++ b/sstables/sstables.cc
@@ -438,6 +438,14 @@ future<> sstable::read_statistics() {
     return read_simple<statistics, component_type::Statistics, &sstable::_statistics>();
 }
 
+future<> sstable::open_data() {
+    return when_all(engine().open_file_dma(filename(component_type::Index), open_flags::ro),
+                    engine().open_file_dma(filename(component_type::Data), open_flags::ro)).then([this] (auto files) {
+        _index_file = make_lw_shared<file>(std::move(std::get<file>(std::get<0>(files).get())));
+        _data_file  = make_lw_shared<file>(std::move(std::get<file>(std::get<1>(files).get())));
+    });
+}
+
 future<> sstable::load() {
     return read_toc().then([this] {
         return read_statistics();
@@ -447,6 +455,8 @@ future<> sstable::load() {
         return read_filter();
     }).then([this] {;
         return read_summary();
+    }).then([this] {
+        return open_data();
     });
 }
 
diff --git a/sstables/sstables.hh b/sstables/sstables.hh
index 7a621951b7..3f1df8f749 100644
--- a/sstables/sstables.hh
+++ b/sstables/sstables.hh
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 #pragma once
 
 #include "core/file.hh"
+#include "core/fstream.hh"
 #include "core/future.hh"
 #include "core/sstring.hh"
 #include "core/enum.hh"
@@ -52,6 +53,8 @@ private:
     filter _filter;
     summary _summary;
     statistics _statistics;
+    lw_shared_ptr<file> _index_file;
+    lw_shared_ptr<file> _data_file;
 
     sstring _dir;
     unsigned long _epoch = 0;
@@ -74,6 +77,7 @@ private:
         return read_simple<summary, component_type::Summary, &sstable::_summary>();
     }
     future<> read_statistics();
+    future<> open_data();
 
 public:
     sstable(sstring dir, unsigned long epoch, version_types v, format_types f) : _dir(dir), _epoch(epoch), _version(v), _format(f) {}