diff --git a/versioning/BRM/slavecomm.cpp b/versioning/BRM/slavecomm.cpp
index 78592a30f..9ff1fd165 100644
--- a/versioning/BRM/slavecomm.cpp
+++ b/versioning/BRM/slavecomm.cpp
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ SlaveComm::SlaveComm(string hostname, SlaveDBRMNode* s) :
         if (true || IDBPolicy::useHdfs())
         {
             journalh = IDBDataFile::open(
-                           IDBPolicy::getType(filename, IDBPolicy::WRITEENG), filename, "r+b", 0);
+                           IDBPolicy::getType(filename, IDBPolicy::WRITEENG), filename, "w+b", 0);
         }
         else
         {