diff --git a/Model/Attachment.php b/Model/Attachment.php
index dd081a0..3b721a5 100644
--- a/Model/Attachment.php
+++ b/Model/Attachment.php
@@ -52,7 +52,8 @@ class Attachment extends MediaAppModel {
 		),
 		'Media.Polymorphic',
 		'Media.Coupler' => array(
-			'baseDirectory' => MEDIA_TRANSFER
+			'baseDirectory' => MEDIA_TRANSFER,
+			'forceDelete'   => false
 		),
 		'Media.Meta' => array(
 			'level' => 2
diff --git a/Model/Behavior/CouplerBehavior.php b/Model/Behavior/CouplerBehavior.php
index dc6edb8..d10153b 100644
--- a/Model/Behavior/CouplerBehavior.php
+++ b/Model/Behavior/CouplerBehavior.php
@@ -19,6 +19,17 @@
 App::uses('File', 'Utility');
 App::uses('ModelBehavior', 'Model');
 
+
+/**
+ * Exceptions
+ * To be moved upon consistent rewrite of error and exception reporting
+ */
+
+class MediaException extends CakeException {}
+class MediaDeleteException extends MediaException {
+	protected $_messageTemplate = 'Some Media file(s) could not be deleted : %s.';
+}
+
 /**
  * Coupler Behavior Class
  *
@@ -57,13 +68,28 @@ class CouplerBehavior extends ModelBehavior {
  *
  * baseDirectory
  *   An absolute path (with trailing slash) to a directory which will be stripped off the file path
+ * alwaysDeleteRecord
+ *   If set to true, record deletion will proceed even if original media file was not
+ *   found in baseDirectory. Defaults to false. This will not delete generated versions
  *
  * @var array
  */
 	protected $_defaultSettings = array(
-		'baseDirectory' => MEDIA_TRANSFER
+		'baseDirectory' => MEDIA_TRANSFER,
+		'alwaysDeleteRecord' => false
 	);
 
+/**
+ * File Deletion Errors
+ *
+ * If coupled files could not be deleted upon record deletion in beforeDelete(), 
+ * the errors are stored here before being thrown as an exception in the afterDelete() 
+ * callback. Errors can be accessed with deletionErrors() method.
+ *    
+ * @var Array
+ */	
+	protected $_deleteErrors = array();
+
 /**
  * Setup
  *
@@ -154,9 +180,8 @@ public function beforeSave(Model $Model, $options = array()) {
 	}
 
 /**
- * Callback, deletes file (if there's one coupled) corresponding to record. If
- * the file couldn't be deleted the callback will stop the delete operation and
- * not continue to delete the record.
+ * Callback, deletes file (if there's one coupled) corresponding to record. 
+ * See alwaysDeleteRecord setting above for how failure to delete the file is managed
  *
  * @param Model $Model Model using this behavior
  * @param boolean $cascade If true records that depend on this record will also be deleted
@@ -178,11 +203,35 @@ public function beforeDelete(Model $Model, $cascade = true) {
 		$file  = $baseDirectory;
 		$file .= $result[$Model->alias]['dirname'];
 		$file .= DS . $result[$Model->alias]['basename'];
-
-		$File = new File($file);
-		return $File->delete();
+		
+		if (!@unlink($file)) {
+			if (!array_key_exists($Model->alias, $this->_deleteErrors)) {
+				$this->_deleteErrors[$Model->alias] = array();
+			}
+			$error = error_get_last();
+			$this->_deleteErrors[$Model->alias][$file] = $error['message'];
+			
+			if (!$this->settings[$Model->alias]['alwaysDeleteRecord']) {
+				// The Notice is triggered as a precaution, but in production it is
+				// advised to use $Model->Behaviors->Coupler->deletionErrors() 
+				// when a record fails to be deleted to see if the error
+				// originated here and why			
+				trigger_error($error['message'], E_USER_NOTICE);
+				return false;
+			}
+		}
+		return true;
+	}
+	
+/**
+ * Callback, throws Exception if files could not be deleted
+ *
+ */
+	public function afterDelete(Model $Model) {
+		if ($errors = $this->deletionErrors($Model)) {
+			throw new MediaDeleteException(array('files' => join(array_values($errors), ', ')));
+		}
 	}
-
 /**
  * Callback, adds the `file` field to each result.
  *
@@ -226,5 +275,20 @@ public function checkRepresent(Model $Model, $check) {
 		$value = current($check);
 		return !empty($value);
 	}
-
+/**
+ * Checks if errors were encountered while trying to delete files coupled with records
+ *
+ * @param Model $Model Model using this behavior
+ * @return mixed false if no errors occured, an array containg files that failed to delete
+ * with associated errors in the format
+ * array(
+ *    '/path/to/file' => 'Full php error message'
+ * )
+ */
+	public function deletionErrors(Model $Model) {
+		if (array_key_exists($Model->alias, $this->_deleteErrors) && count($errors = $this->_deleteErrors[$Model->alias])) {
+			return $errors;
+		}
+		return false;
+	}
 }