diff --git a/io/io/src/TFile.cxx b/io/io/src/TFile.cxx
index 6b97e04797bc4..635f3e8725e5f 100644
--- a/io/io/src/TFile.cxx
+++ b/io/io/src/TFile.cxx
@@ -2119,7 +2119,6 @@ Int_t TFile::Recover()
 
    if (fWritable && !fFree) fFree  = new TList;
 
-   TKey *key;
    Int_t nrecov = 0;
    nwheader = 1024;
    Int_t nread = nwheader;
@@ -2171,14 +2170,16 @@ Int_t TFile::Recover()
       TClass *tclass = TClass::GetClass(classname);
       if (seekpdir == fSeekDir && tclass && !tclass->InheritsFrom(TFile::Class())
                                && strcmp(classname,"TBasket")) {
-         key = new TKey(this);
+        
+         TKey *key = new TKey(this);
          key->ReadKeyBuffer(bufread);
          if (!strcmp(key->GetName(),"StreamerInfo")) {
             fSeekInfo = seekkey;
             SafeDelete(fInfoCache);
             fNbytesInfo = nbytes;
+            delete key;
          } else {
-            AppendKey(key);
+            AppendKey(key); // ownership transferred
             nrecov++;
             SetBit(kRecovered);
             Info("Recover", "%s, recovered key %s:%s at address %lld",GetName(),key->GetClassName(),key->GetName(),idcur);
diff --git a/tree/dataframe/src/RDFSnapshotHelpers.cxx b/tree/dataframe/src/RDFSnapshotHelpers.cxx
index ce5c339a0511e..0079330a064ee 100644
--- a/tree/dataframe/src/RDFSnapshotHelpers.cxx
+++ b/tree/dataframe/src/RDFSnapshotHelpers.cxx
@@ -260,7 +260,8 @@ void EnsureValidSnapshotRNTupleOutput(const ROOT::RDF::RSnapshotOptions &opts, c
    if (!outFile || outFile->IsZombie())
       throw std::invalid_argument("Snapshot: cannot open file \"" + fileName + "\" in update mode");
 
-   auto *outNTuple = outFile->Get<ROOT::RNTuple>(ntupleName.c_str());
+   std::unique_ptr<ROOT::RNTuple> uoNT{outFile->Get<ROOT::RNTuple>(ntupleName.c_str())};
+   auto *outNTuple = uoNT.get();
 
    if (outNTuple) {
       if (opts.fOverwriteIfExists) {
@@ -534,6 +535,7 @@ void ROOT::Internal::RDF::UntypedSnapshotTTreeHelper::SetEmptyBranches(TTree *in
 
 void ROOT::Internal::RDF::UntypedSnapshotTTreeHelper::Initialize()
 {
+   delete fOutputFile.release(); // delete before create. reset does it the other way round
    fOutputFile.reset(
       TFile::Open(fFileName.c_str(), fOptions.fMode.c_str(), /*ftitle=*/"",
                   ROOT::CompressionSettings(fOptions.fCompressionAlgorithm, fOptions.fCompressionLevel)));
@@ -937,6 +939,8 @@ void ROOT::Internal::RDF::UntypedSnapshotRNTupleHelper::Initialize()
    writeOptions.SetEnablePageChecksums(fOptions.fEnablePageChecksums);
    writeOptions.SetEnableSamePageMerging(fOptions.fEnableSamePageMerging);
 
+   // Delete beforehand (.reset does it in inverse order, creates new and then deletes)
+   delete fOutputFile.release();
    fOutputFile.reset(TFile::Open(fFileName.c_str(), fOptions.fMode.c_str()));
    if (!fOutputFile)
       throw std::runtime_error("Snapshot: could not create output file " + fFileName);