I store my file_column database outside of my RAILS_ROOT. It seems to work in real life, but not in tests. In the tests, I can''t set both the root_path and the store_dir. In tests, setting the store_dir option will override the root_path option. The only way for root_path to work is to remove store_dir. I think the problem is in file_column.rb on line 22: options[:store_dir] ||= File.join(options[:root_path], model, attr) Here''s my test: def test_absolute_path_outside_rails_root # We might want to store our files on another file system # We also want to give the user their own directory Entry.file_column :image, {:root_path => "/u/ file_column_db", :store_dir => store_dir_method} e = Entry.new e.image = uploaded_file(file_path("kerb.jpg"), "image/jpeg", "kerb.jpg") assert File.exists?(e.image) assert e.image !~ /\.\./, "#{e.image} is not a simple path" assert_match %r{/u/file_column_db/somebodys_account/images}, e.image end def store_dir_method File.join("somebodys_account", "images") end This fails with: 1) Failure: test_absolute_path_outside_rails_root(ResourceTest) [test/unit/ resource_test.rb:254]: <"/usr/home/ryenski/sites/my_app/somebodys_account/images/tmp/ 1137483590.895686.58774/kerb.jpg"> expected to be =~ </\/u\/file_column_db\/somebodys_account\/images/>. Any ideas would be appreciated! Thanks, Ryan