diff --git a/R-package/R/utils.R b/R-package/R/utils.R
index fb3f59957..bcbde36d1 100644
--- a/R-package/R/utils.R
+++ b/R-package/R/utils.R
@@ -102,28 +102,42 @@ xgb.numrow <- function(dmat) {
 }
 # iteratively update booster with customized statistics
 xgb.iter.boost <- function(booster, dtrain, gpair) {
-  if (class(booster) != "xgb.Booster.handle") {
+  if (class(booster) != "xgb.Booster") {
     stop("xgb.iter.update: first argument must be type xgb.Booster")
+  } else {
+    if (is.null(booster$handle)) {
+      booster$handle <- xgb.load(booster$raw)
+    } else {
+      if (is.null(booster$raw))
+        booster$raw <- xgb.save.raw(booster$handle)
+    }
   }
   if (class(dtrain) != "xgb.DMatrix") {
     stop("xgb.iter.update: second argument must be type xgb.DMatrix")
   }
-  .Call("XGBoosterBoostOneIter_R", booster, dtrain, gpair$grad, gpair$hess, 
+  .Call("XGBoosterBoostOneIter_R", booster$handle, dtrain, gpair$grad, gpair$hess, 
         PACKAGE = "xgboost")
   return(TRUE)
 }
 
 # iteratively update booster with dtrain
 xgb.iter.update <- function(booster, dtrain, iter, obj = NULL) {
-  if (class(booster) != "xgb.Booster.handle") {
+  if (class(booster) != "xgb.Booster") {
     stop("xgb.iter.update: first argument must be type xgb.Booster")
+  } else {
+    if (is.null(booster$handle)) {
+      booster$handle <- xgb.load(booster$raw)
+    } else {
+      if (is.null(booster$raw))
+        booster$raw <- xgb.save.raw(booster$handle)
+    }
   }
   if (class(dtrain) != "xgb.DMatrix") {
     stop("xgb.iter.update: second argument must be type xgb.DMatrix")
   }
 
   if (is.null(obj)) {
-    .Call("XGBoosterUpdateOneIter_R", booster, as.integer(iter), dtrain, 
+    .Call("XGBoosterUpdateOneIter_R", booster$handle, as.integer(iter), dtrain, 
           PACKAGE = "xgboost")
   } else {
     pred <- predict(booster, dtrain)