diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-record.c b/tools/perf/builtin-record.c
index eb524f91bffe5d9098d582e07050734a1c3e5343..8ce62ef7f6c387e3e23a18c51b9ec1cf82e2a189 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-record.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-record.c
@@ -374,7 +374,7 @@ static int __cmd_record(struct record *rec, int argc, const char **argv)
 
 	session = perf_session__new(file, false, NULL);
 	if (session == NULL) {
-		pr_err("Not enough memory for reading perf file header\n");
+		pr_err("Perf session creation failed.\n");
 		return -1;
 	}
 
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/data.c b/tools/perf/util/data.c
index 1fbcd8bdc11b8b387c4f9f2f1a57ae6807e9e92c..55de44ecebefb5aa74365eb0b04294cfb186585a 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/data.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/data.c
@@ -86,10 +86,17 @@ static int open_file_read(struct perf_data_file *file)
 
 static int open_file_write(struct perf_data_file *file)
 {
+	int fd;
+
 	if (check_backup(file))
 		return -1;
 
-	return open(file->path, O_CREAT|O_RDWR|O_TRUNC, S_IRUSR|S_IWUSR);
+	fd = open(file->path, O_CREAT|O_RDWR|O_TRUNC, S_IRUSR|S_IWUSR);
+
+	if (fd < 0)
+		pr_err("failed to open %s : %s\n", file->path, strerror(errno));
+
+	return fd;
 }
 
 static int open_file(struct perf_data_file *file)