diff --git a/libntfs-3g/attrib.c b/libntfs-3g/attrib.c
index 44f3e367..c209c08a 100644
--- a/libntfs-3g/attrib.c
+++ b/libntfs-3g/attrib.c
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ s64 ntfs_get_attribute_value(const ntfs_volume *vol,
 	/* Attribute is not resident. */
 
 	/* If no data, return 0. */
-	if (!(a->data_size)) {
+	if (sle64_cmpz(a->data_size)) {
 		errno = 0;
 		return 0;
 	}
@@ -455,7 +455,7 @@ ntfs_attr *ntfs_attr_open(ntfs_inode *ni, const ATTR_TYPES type,
 		a->flags = 0;
 
 	if (le32_eq(type, AT_DATA)
-	   && (a->non_resident ? !a->initialized_size : le32_cmpz(a->value_length))) {
+	   && (a->non_resident ? sle64_cmpz(a->initialized_size) : le32_cmpz(a->value_length))) {
 		/*
 		 * Define/redefine the compression state if stream is
 		 * empty, based on the compression mark on parent
@@ -655,7 +655,7 @@ static int ntfs_attr_map_partial_runlist(ntfs_attr *na, VCN vcn)
 					done = TRUE;
 				}
 				needed = highest_vcn + 1;
-				if (!a->lowest_vcn)
+				if (sle64_cmpz(a->lowest_vcn))
 					startseen = TRUE;
 			}
 		} else {
@@ -5654,7 +5654,7 @@ retry:
 				CASE_SENSITIVE, from_vcn, NULL, 0, ctx)) {
 		a = ctx->attr;
 		m = ctx->mrec;
-		if (!a->lowest_vcn)
+		if (sle64_cmpz(a->lowest_vcn))
 			first_updated = TRUE;
 		/*
 		 * If runlist is updating not from the beginning, then set
diff --git a/libntfs-3g/runlist.c b/libntfs-3g/runlist.c
index 7e158d44..a55b6aac 100644
--- a/libntfs-3g/runlist.c
+++ b/libntfs-3g/runlist.c
@@ -940,7 +940,7 @@ mpa_err:
 		goto err_out;
 	}
 	/* Setup not mapped runlist element if this is the base extent. */
-	if (!attr->lowest_vcn) {
+	if (sle64_cmpz(attr->lowest_vcn)) {
 		VCN max_cluster;
 
 		max_cluster = ((sle64_to_cpu(attr->allocated_size) +
diff --git a/ntfsprogs/ntfsclone.c b/ntfsprogs/ntfsclone.c
index f6dd8c73..dfbccddb 100644
--- a/ntfsprogs/ntfsclone.c
+++ b/ntfsprogs/ntfsclone.c
@@ -1739,7 +1739,7 @@ static void walk_runs(struct ntfs_walk_cluster *walk)
 		 * because its logical blocks may be larger than
 		 * a cluster and split over two extents.
 		 */
-		if (mft_data && !a->lowest_vcn) {
+		if (mft_data && sle64_cmpz(a->lowest_vcn)) {
 			na = ntfs_attr_open(walk->image->ni,
 					AT_DATA, NULL, 0);
 			if (na) {
@@ -1755,7 +1755,7 @@ static void walk_runs(struct ntfs_walk_cluster *walk)
 				perr_exit("Failed to open data of inode %lld",
 					(long long)walk->image->ni->mft_no);
 		}
-		if (index_i30 && !a->lowest_vcn) {
+		if (index_i30 && sle64_cmpz(a->lowest_vcn)) {
 			na = ntfs_attr_open(walk->image->ni,
 					AT_INDEX_ALLOCATION, NTFS_INDEX_I30, 4);
 			if (na) {
diff --git a/ntfsprogs/ntfsinfo.c b/ntfsprogs/ntfsinfo.c
index bc58b0ab..08d9e885 100644
--- a/ntfsprogs/ntfsinfo.c
+++ b/ntfsprogs/ntfsinfo.c
@@ -1346,7 +1346,7 @@ static void ntfs_dump_attribute_header(ntfs_attr_search_ctx *ctx,
 			(unsigned)a->compression_unit);
 	/* TODO: dump the 5 reserved bytes here in verbose mode */
 
-	if (!a->lowest_vcn) {
+	if (sle64_cmpz(a->lowest_vcn)) {
 		printf("\tData size:\t\t %llu (0x%llx)\n",
 				(long long)sle64_to_cpu(a->data_size),
 				(unsigned long long)sle64_to_cpu(a->data_size));
diff --git a/ntfsprogs/ntfswipe.c b/ntfsprogs/ntfswipe.c
index 59836941..1db11ca2 100644
--- a/ntfsprogs/ntfswipe.c
+++ b/ntfsprogs/ntfswipe.c
@@ -900,7 +900,7 @@ static s64 wipe_tails(ntfs_volume *vol, int byte, enum action act)
 							NULL, 0, ctx)) {
 			a = ctx->attr;
 
-			if (!ctx->al_entry || !ctx->al_entry->lowest_vcn) {
+			if (!ctx->al_entry || sle64_cmpz(ctx->al_entry->lowest_vcn)) {
 				name = (ntfschar*)((u8*)a
 						+ le16_to_cpu(a->name_offset));
 				attr_wiped = wipe_attr_tail(ni, name,