diff --git a/include/sdb/sdb.h b/include/sdb/sdb.h
index e4a685d2..72946c1f 100644
--- a/include/sdb/sdb.h
+++ b/include/sdb/sdb.h
@@ -178,7 +178,6 @@ SDB_API char *sdb_querys(Sdb* s, char *buf, size_t len, const char *cmd);
 SDB_API char *sdb_querysf(Sdb* s, char *buf, size_t buflen, const char *fmt, ...);
 SDB_API int sdb_query_file(Sdb *s, const char* file);
 SDB_API bool sdb_exists(Sdb*, const char *key);
-SDB_API bool sdb_remove(Sdb*, const char *key, ut32 cas);
 SDB_API int sdb_unset(Sdb*, const char *key, ut32 cas);
 SDB_API int sdb_nunset(Sdb*, ut64 nkey, ut32 cas);
 SDB_API int sdb_unset_like(Sdb *s, const char *k);
diff --git a/src/sdb.c b/src/sdb.c
index fa02d8dd..fe61e91a 100644
--- a/src/sdb.c
+++ b/src/sdb.c
@@ -309,11 +309,6 @@ SDB_API int sdb_nunset(Sdb* s, ut64 nkey, ut32 cas) {
 	return sdb_nset (s, nkey, "", cas);
 }
 
-/* remove from memory */
-SDB_API bool sdb_remove(Sdb *s, const char *key, ut32 cas) {
-	return sdb_ht_delete (s->ht, key);
-}
-
 // alias for '-key=str'.. '+key=str' concats
 SDB_API int sdb_uncat(Sdb *s, const char *key, const char *value, ut32 cas) {
 	// remove 'value' from current key value.
@@ -901,7 +896,7 @@ SDB_API bool sdb_sync(Sdb* s) {
 				const char *kvv = sdbkv_value (kv);
 				if (kvv && *kvv && !kv->expire) {
 					if (sdb_disk_insert (s, sdbkv_key (kv), sdbkv_value (kv))) {
-						sdb_remove (s, sdbkv_key (kv), 0);
+						return sdb_ht_delete (s->ht, sdbkv_key (kv));
 					}
 				}
 			}