diff --git a/src/util.c b/src/util.c

index ab49890..7332891 100644

--- a/src/util.c

+++ b/src/util.c

@@ -203,7 +203,7 @@ tape_fill_input_buffer (int in_des, int num_bytes)

       get_next_reel (in_des);

       input_size = rmtread (in_des, input_buffer, num_bytes);

     }

-  if (input_size < 0)

+  if (input_size == SAFE_READ_ERROR)

     error (1, errno, _("read error"));

   if (input_size == 0)

     {

@@ -224,7 +224,7 @@ disk_fill_input_buffer (int in_des, off_t num_bytes)

   in_buff = input_buffer;

   num_bytes = (num_bytes < DISK_IO_BLOCK_SIZE) ? num_bytes : DISK_IO_BLOCK_SIZE;

   input_size = read (in_des, input_buffer, num_bytes);

-  if (input_size < 0) 

+  if (input_size == SAFE_READ_ERROR)

     {

       input_size = 0;

       return (-1);