diff --git a/apis/filesystem/pom.xml b/apis/filesystem/pom.xml
index 2276667ec3..517a236e90 100644
--- a/apis/filesystem/pom.xml
+++ b/apis/filesystem/pom.xml
@@ -52,11 +52,6 @@
             <type>test-jar</type>
             <scope>test</scope>
         </dependency>
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>commons-io</groupId>
-            <artifactId>commons-io</artifactId>
-            <version>2.4</version>
-        </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.jclouds</groupId>
             <artifactId>jclouds-blobstore</artifactId>
diff --git a/apis/filesystem/src/main/java/org/jclouds/filesystem/strategy/internal/FilesystemStorageStrategyImpl.java b/apis/filesystem/src/main/java/org/jclouds/filesystem/strategy/internal/FilesystemStorageStrategyImpl.java
index 7cb61e8de1..07c2efb001 100644
--- a/apis/filesystem/src/main/java/org/jclouds/filesystem/strategy/internal/FilesystemStorageStrategyImpl.java
+++ b/apis/filesystem/src/main/java/org/jclouds/filesystem/strategy/internal/FilesystemStorageStrategyImpl.java
@@ -35,7 +35,6 @@ import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableList;
 import com.google.common.io.ByteStreams;
 import com.google.common.io.Files;
 
-import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
 import org.jclouds.blobstore.LocalStorageStrategy;
 import org.jclouds.blobstore.domain.Blob;
 import org.jclouds.blobstore.domain.BlobBuilder;
@@ -46,6 +45,7 @@ import org.jclouds.domain.Location;
 import org.jclouds.filesystem.predicates.validators.FilesystemBlobKeyValidator;
 import org.jclouds.filesystem.predicates.validators.FilesystemContainerNameValidator;
 import org.jclouds.filesystem.reference.FilesystemConstants;
+import org.jclouds.filesystem.util.Utils;
 import org.jclouds.io.Payload;
 import org.jclouds.io.Payloads;
 import org.jclouds.logging.Logger;
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ public class FilesystemStorageStrategyImpl implements LocalStorageStrategy {
          File[] children = containerFile.listFiles();
          if (null != children) {
             for (File child : children)
-               FileUtils.forceDelete(child);
+               Utils.deleteRecursively(child);
          }
       } catch (IOException e) {
          logger.error(e, "An error occurred while clearing container %s", container);
@@ -283,7 +283,7 @@ public class FilesystemStorageStrategyImpl implements LocalStorageStrategy {
       // create complete dir path
       String fullDirPath = buildPathStartingFromBaseDir(container, directory);
       try {
-         FileUtils.forceDelete(new File(fullDirPath));
+         Utils.deleteRecursively(new File(fullDirPath));
       } catch (IOException ex) {
          logger.error("An error occurred removing directory %s.", fullDirPath);
          Throwables.propagate(ex);
diff --git a/apis/filesystem/src/main/java/org/jclouds/filesystem/util/Utils.java b/apis/filesystem/src/main/java/org/jclouds/filesystem/util/Utils.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5d29fd6596
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apis/filesystem/src/main/java/org/jclouds/filesystem/util/Utils.java
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to jclouds, Inc. (jclouds) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  jclouds licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+package org.jclouds.filesystem.util;
+
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+/**
+ * Utilities for the filesystem blobstore.
+ *
+ * @author Andrew Gaul
+ */
+public class Utils {
+   /** Private constructor for utility class. */
+   private Utils() {
+      // Do nothing
+   }
+
+   /** Delete a file or a directory recursively. */
+   public static void deleteRecursively(File file) throws IOException {
+      if (file.isDirectory()) {
+         File[] children = file.listFiles();
+         if (children != null) {
+            for (File child : children) {
+               deleteRecursively(child);
+            }
+         }
+      }
+      if (!file.delete()) {
+         throw new IOException("Could not delete: " + file);
+      }
+   }
+}
diff --git a/apis/filesystem/src/test/java/org/jclouds/filesystem/FilesystemAsyncBlobStoreTest.java b/apis/filesystem/src/test/java/org/jclouds/filesystem/FilesystemAsyncBlobStoreTest.java
index 5d84b6d127..8f76971549 100644
--- a/apis/filesystem/src/test/java/org/jclouds/filesystem/FilesystemAsyncBlobStoreTest.java
+++ b/apis/filesystem/src/test/java/org/jclouds/filesystem/FilesystemAsyncBlobStoreTest.java
@@ -36,7 +36,6 @@ import java.util.Iterator;
 import java.util.Properties;
 import java.util.Set;
 
-import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
 import org.jclouds.ContextBuilder;
 import org.jclouds.blobstore.BlobRequestSigner;
 import org.jclouds.blobstore.BlobStore;
@@ -52,6 +51,7 @@ import org.jclouds.blobstore.options.GetOptions;
 import org.jclouds.blobstore.options.ListContainerOptions;
 import org.jclouds.crypto.CryptoStreams;
 import org.jclouds.filesystem.reference.FilesystemConstants;
+import org.jclouds.filesystem.util.Utils;
 import org.jclouds.filesystem.utils.TestUtils;
 import org.jclouds.http.HttpRequest;
 import org.jclouds.io.InputSuppliers;
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ public class FilesystemAsyncBlobStoreTest {
     @AfterMethod
     protected void tearDown() throws IOException {
         context.close();
-        FileUtils.forceDelete(new File(TestUtils.TARGET_BASE_DIR));
+        Utils.deleteRecursively(new File(TestUtils.TARGET_BASE_DIR));
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/apis/filesystem/src/test/java/org/jclouds/filesystem/utils/TestUtils.java b/apis/filesystem/src/test/java/org/jclouds/filesystem/utils/TestUtils.java
index f068f25df9..6d6be707e1 100644
--- a/apis/filesystem/src/test/java/org/jclouds/filesystem/utils/TestUtils.java
+++ b/apis/filesystem/src/test/java/org/jclouds/filesystem/utils/TestUtils.java
@@ -28,10 +28,11 @@ import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.UUID;
 
+import org.jclouds.filesystem.util.Utils;
+
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableList;
 import com.google.common.collect.Iterators;
-
-import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
+import com.google.common.io.Files;
 
 /**
  * Utility class for test
@@ -98,7 +99,10 @@ public class TestUtils {
      * @throws IOException
      */
     public static void createContainerAsDirectory(String containerName) throws IOException {
-        FileUtils.forceMkdir(new File(TARGET_BASE_DIR + containerName));
+        File file = new File(TARGET_BASE_DIR, containerName);
+        if (!file.mkdirs()) {
+            throw new IOException("Could not mkdir: " + file);
+        };
     }
 
     /**
@@ -167,8 +171,8 @@ public class TestUtils {
         File parentDirectory = new File(directoryName);
         File[] children = parentDirectory.listFiles();
         if (null != children) {
-            for(File child:children) {
-                FileUtils.forceDelete(child);
+            for (File child : children) {
+                Utils.deleteRecursively(child);
             }
         }
     }
@@ -186,7 +190,9 @@ public class TestUtils {
             filePath = containerName  + blobKey;
         else
             filePath = containerName + File.separator + blobKey;
-        FileUtils.copyFile(source, new File(TARGET_BASE_DIR + filePath));
+        File file = new File(TARGET_BASE_DIR + filePath);
+        Files.createParentDirs(file);
+        Files.copy(source, file);
     }