diff --git a/PVE/API2/Storage/Content.pm b/PVE/API2/Storage/Content.pm
index 349231d..c391b35 100644
--- a/PVE/API2/Storage/Content.pm
+++ b/PVE/API2/Storage/Content.pm
@@ -370,8 +370,8 @@ __PACKAGE__->register_method ({
 
 	PVE::Storage::check_volume_access($rpcenv, $authuser, $cfg, undef, $volid);
 
-	if (my $notes = $param->{notes}) {
-	    PVE::Storage::update_volume_notes($cfg, $volid, $notes);
+	if (exists $param->{notes}) {
+	    PVE::Storage::update_volume_notes($cfg, $volid, $param->{notes});
 	}
 
 	return undef;
diff --git a/PVE/Storage/DirPlugin.pm b/PVE/Storage/DirPlugin.pm
index 7bb85e8..2267f11 100644
--- a/PVE/Storage/DirPlugin.pm
+++ b/PVE/Storage/DirPlugin.pm
@@ -107,8 +107,11 @@ sub update_volume_notes {
     my $path = $class->filesystem_path($scfg, $volname);
     $path .= $class->SUPER::NOTES_EXT;
 
-    PVE::Tools::file_set_contents($path, $notes);
-
+    if (defined($notes) && $notes ne '') {
+	PVE::Tools::file_set_contents($path, $notes);
+    } else {
+	unlink $path or die "could not delete notes - $!\n";
+    }
     return;
 }