diff --git a/datastore/databuffer.nim b/datastore/databuffer.nim
index 14d7d21..1ee5c5f 100644
--- a/datastore/databuffer.nim
+++ b/datastore/databuffer.nim
@@ -54,9 +54,15 @@ proc `=copy`*(a: var DataBuffer; b: DataBuffer) =
 
 proc incrAtomicCount*(a: DataBuffer) =
   let res = atomicAddFetch(a.cnt, 1, ATOMIC_RELAXED)
-proc getAtomicCount*(a: DataBuffer): int =
+proc unsafeGetAtomicCount*(a: DataBuffer): int =
   atomicLoad(a.cnt, addr result, ATOMIC_RELAXED)
 
+proc len*(a: DataBuffer): int = a.size
+
+proc toSeq*[T: byte | char](a: DataBuffer, tp: typedesc[T]): seq[T] =
+  result = newSeq[T](a.len)
+  copyMem(addr result[0], unsafeAddr a.buf[0], a.len)
+
 proc new*(tp: typedesc[DataBuffer], size: int = 0): DataBuffer =
   let cnt = cast[ptr int](allocShared0(sizeof(result.cnt)))
   cnt[] = 1
diff --git a/tests/datastore/testsharedbuffer.nim b/tests/datastore/testsharedbuffer.nim
index 499438a..4a0f062 100644
--- a/tests/datastore/testsharedbuffer.nim
+++ b/tests/datastore/testsharedbuffer.nim
@@ -43,8 +43,8 @@ proc thread1(val: int) {.thread.} =
       var myBytes = DataBuffer.new(@"hello world")
       myBytes2 = myBytes
 
-      echo "thread1: sending: ", myBytes, " cnt: ", myBytes.getAtomicCount()
-      echo "mybytes2: ", myBytes2, " cnt: ", myBytes2.getAtomicCount()
+      echo "thread1: sending: ", myBytes, " cnt: ", myBytes.unsafeGetAtomicCount()
+      echo "mybytes2: ", myBytes2, " cnt: ", myBytes2.unsafeGetAtomicCount()
 
       shareVal = myBytes
       echo "thread1: sent, left over: ", $myBytes
@@ -60,7 +60,8 @@ proc thread2(val: int) {.thread.} =
         wait(cond, lock)
       echo "thread2: receiving "
       let msg: DataBuffer = shareVal
-      echo "thread2: received: ", msg, " cnt: ", msg.getAtomicCount()
+      echo "thread2: received: ", msg, " cnt: ", msg.unsafeGetAtomicCount()
+      check msg.toSeq(char) == @"hello world"
       # os.sleep(100)
 
 proc runBasicTest() =