diff --git a/cmd/tar-split/tar_benchmark_test.go b/cmd/tar-split/tar_benchmark_test.go
index f318645..950eccc 100644
--- a/cmd/tar-split/tar_benchmark_test.go
+++ b/cmd/tar-split/tar_benchmark_test.go
@@ -29,9 +29,14 @@ func BenchmarkUpstreamTar(b *testing.B) {
 				fh.Close()
 				b.Fatal(err)
 			}
-			io.Copy(ioutil.Discard, tr)
+			_, err = io.Copy(ioutil.Discard, tr)
+			if err != nil {
+				b.Fatal(err)
+			}
+		}
+		if err := fh.Close(); err != nil {
+			b.Fatal(err)
 		}
-		fh.Close()
 	}
 }
 
@@ -52,9 +57,14 @@ func BenchmarkOurTarNoAccounting(b *testing.B) {
 				fh.Close()
 				b.Fatal(err)
 			}
-			io.Copy(ioutil.Discard, tr)
+			_, err = io.Copy(ioutil.Discard, tr)
+			if err != nil {
+				b.Fatal(err)
+			}
+		}
+		if err := fh.Close(); err != nil {
+			b.Fatal(err)
 		}
-		fh.Close()
 	}
 }
 func BenchmarkOurTarYesAccounting(b *testing.B) {
@@ -76,9 +86,14 @@ func BenchmarkOurTarYesAccounting(b *testing.B) {
 				fh.Close()
 				b.Fatal(err)
 			}
-			io.Copy(ioutil.Discard, tr)
+			_, err = io.Copy(ioutil.Discard, tr)
+			if err != nil {
+				b.Fatal(err)
+			}
 			_ = tr.RawBytes()
 		}
-		fh.Close()
+		if err := fh.Close(); err != nil {
+			b.Fatal(err)
+		}
 	}
 }
diff --git a/tar/asm/assemble.go b/tar/asm/assemble.go
index d624450..3eb32ab 100644
--- a/tar/asm/assemble.go
+++ b/tar/asm/assemble.go
@@ -71,6 +71,8 @@ func WriteOutputTarStream(fg storage.FileGetter, up storage.Unpacker, w io.Write
 				crcSum = make([]byte, 8)
 				multiWriter = io.MultiWriter(w, crcHash)
 				copyBuffer = byteBufferPool.Get().([]byte)
+				// TODO once we have some benchmark or memory profile then we can experiment with using *bytes.Buffer
+				//nolint:staticcheck // SA6002 not going to do a pointer here
 				defer byteBufferPool.Put(copyBuffer)
 			} else {
 				crcHash.Reset()
diff --git a/tar/asm/disassemble_test.go b/tar/asm/disassemble_test.go
index 5e03597..4141aa0 100644
--- a/tar/asm/disassemble_test.go
+++ b/tar/asm/disassemble_test.go
@@ -18,13 +18,11 @@ func TestLargeJunkPadding(t *testing.T) {
 	// Write a normal tar file into the pipe and then load it full of junk
 	// bytes as padding. We have to do this in a goroutine because we can't
 	// store 20GB of junk in-memory.
-	var err error
-	go func(e error) {
+	go func() {
 		// Empty archive.
 		tw := tar.NewWriter(pW)
 		if err := tw.Close(); err != nil {
 			pW.CloseWithError(err)
-			e = err
 			return
 		}
 
@@ -36,7 +34,6 @@ func TestLargeJunkPadding(t *testing.T) {
 		devZero, err := os.Open("/dev/zero")
 		if err != nil {
 			pW.CloseWithError(err)
-			e = err
 			return
 		}
 		defer devZero.Close()
@@ -46,17 +43,13 @@ func TestLargeJunkPadding(t *testing.T) {
 			}
 			if _, err := io.CopyN(pW, devZero, junkChunkSize); err != nil {
 				pW.CloseWithError(err)
-				e = err
 				return
 			}
 		}
 
 		fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, "[TestLargeJunkPadding] junk chunk finished")
 		pW.Close()
-	}(err)
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatal(err)
-	}
+	}()
 
 	// Disassemble our junk file.
 	nilPacker := storage.NewJSONPacker(ioutil.Discard)
diff --git a/tar/storage/packer_test.go b/tar/storage/packer_test.go
index 7d93371..2d8f2b6 100644
--- a/tar/storage/packer_test.go
+++ b/tar/storage/packer_test.go
@@ -199,7 +199,9 @@ func BenchmarkGetPut(b *testing.B) {
 						b.Fatal(err)
 					}
 				}
-				fh.Sync()
+				if err := fh.Sync(); err != nil {
+					b.Fatal(err)
+				}
 
 				up := NewJSONUnpacker(fh)
 				for {