diff --git a/Changelog.draft.rst b/Changelog.draft.rst
index fd445ac..2035aa8 100644
--- a/Changelog.draft.rst
+++ b/Changelog.draft.rst
@@ -16,9 +16,12 @@ New Features
 Changes
 -------
 
+* Maildirs use less memory while syncing.
+
 Bug Fixes
 ---------
 
+* Saving to Maildirs now checks for file existence without race conditions.
 
 Pending for the next major release
 ==================================
diff --git a/offlineimap/folder/Maildir.py b/offlineimap/folder/Maildir.py
index a798b36..b576507 100644
--- a/offlineimap/folder/Maildir.py
+++ b/offlineimap/folder/Maildir.py
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ try:
 except ImportError:
     from md5 import md5
 
+from offlineimap import OfflineImapError
+
 uidmatchre = re.compile(',U=(\d+)')
 flagmatchre = re.compile(':.*2,([A-Z]+)')
 timestampmatchre = re.compile('(\d+)');
@@ -217,52 +219,37 @@ class MaildirFolder(BaseFolder):
         # Otherwise, save the message in tmp/ and then call savemessageflags()
         # to give it a permanent home.
         tmpdir = os.path.join(self.getfullname(), 'tmp')
-        messagename = None
-        attempts = 0
-        while 1:
-            if attempts > 15:
-                raise IOError, "Couldn't write to file %s" % messagename
-            timeval, timeseq = gettimeseq()
-            messagename = '%d_%d.%d.%s,U=%d,FMD5=%s' % \
-                          (timeval,
-                           timeseq,
-                           os.getpid(),
-                           socket.gethostname(),
-                           uid,
-                           md5(self.getvisiblename()).hexdigest())
-            if os.path.exists(os.path.join(tmpdir, messagename)):
-                time.sleep(2)
-                attempts += 1
+        timeval, timeseq = gettimeseq()
+        messagename = '%d_%d.%d.%s,U=%d,FMD5=%s' % \
+            (timeval,
+             timeseq,
+             os.getpid(),
+             socket.gethostname(),
+             uid,
+             md5(self.getvisiblename()).hexdigest())
+        # open file and write it out
+        try:
+            fd = os.open(os.path.join(tmpdir, messagename),
+                           os.O_EXCL|os.O_CREAT|os.O_WRONLY)
+        except OSError, e:
+            if e.errno == 17: 
+                #FILE EXISTS ALREADY
+                severity = OfflineImapError.ERROR.MESSAGE
+                raise OfflineImapError("Unique filename %s already existing." %\
+                                           messagename, severity)
             else:
-                break
-        tmpmessagename = messagename.split(',')[0]
-        self.ui.debug('maildir', 'savemessage: using temporary name %s' %\
-                          tmpmessagename)
-        file = open(os.path.join(tmpdir, tmpmessagename), "wt")
-        file.write(content)
+                raise
 
+        file = os.fdopen(fd, 'wt')
+        file.write(content)
         # Make sure the data hits the disk
         file.flush()
         if self.dofsync:
-            os.fsync(file.fileno())
+            os.fsync(fd)
         file.close()
 
         if rtime != None:
-            os.utime(os.path.join(tmpdir, tmpmessagename), (rtime, rtime))
-        self.ui.debug('maildir', 'savemessage: moving from %s to %s' % \
-                 (tmpmessagename, messagename))
-        if tmpmessagename != messagename: # then rename it
-            os.rename(os.path.join(tmpdir, tmpmessagename),
-                    os.path.join(tmpdir, messagename))
-
-        if self.dofsync:
-            try:
-                # fsync the directory (safer semantics in Linux)
-                fd = os.open(tmpdir, os.O_RDONLY)
-                os.fsync(fd)
-                os.close(fd)
-            except:
-                pass
+            os.utime(os.path.join(tmpdir, messagename), (rtime, rtime))
 
         self.messagelist[uid] = {'uid': uid, 'flags': [],
                                  'filename': os.path.join('tmp', messagename)}