diff --git a/src/vol/ihandle.c b/src/vol/ihandle.c
index 178d6b0350..8b053b37a2 100644
--- a/src/vol/ihandle.c
+++ b/src/vol/ihandle.c
@@ -1095,3 +1095,18 @@ ih_pwrite(int fd, const void * buf, size_t count, afs_foff_t offset)
 	return OS_WRITE(fd, buf, count);
 }
 #endif /* !HAVE_PIO */
+
+#ifndef AFS_NT40_ENV
+int
+ih_isunlinked(int fd)
+{
+    struct afs_stat_st status;
+    if (afs_fstat(fd, &status) < 0) {
+	return -1;
+    }
+    if (status.st_nlink < 1) {
+	return 1;
+    }
+    return 0;
+}
+#endif /* !AFS_NT40_ENV */
diff --git a/src/vol/ihandle.h b/src/vol/ihandle.h
index 9e48d09625..88b54c4c4e 100644
--- a/src/vol/ihandle.h
+++ b/src/vol/ihandle.h
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@
  * status information:
  * FDH_SIZE - returns the size of the file.
  * FDH_NLINK - returns the link count of the file.
+ * FDH_ISUNLINKED - returns if the file has been unlinked out from under us
  *
  * Miscellaneous:
  * FDH_FDOPEN - create a descriptor for buffered I/O
@@ -386,6 +387,8 @@ extern ssize_t ih_pwrite(FD_t fd, const void * buf, size_t count, afs_foff_t off
 # define OS_UNLOCKFILE(FD, O) (!UnlockFile(FD, (DWORD)((O) & 0xFFFFFFFF), (DWORD)((O) >> 32), 2, 0))
 # define OS_ERROR(X) nterr_nt2unix(GetLastError(), X)
 # define OS_UNLINK(X) nt_unlink(X)
+/* we can't have a file unlinked out from under us on NT */
+# define OS_ISUNLINKED(X) (0)
 # define OS_DIRSEP "\\"
 # define OS_DIRSEPC '\\'
 #else
@@ -393,6 +396,8 @@ extern ssize_t ih_pwrite(FD_t fd, const void * buf, size_t count, afs_foff_t off
 # define OS_UNLOCKFILE(FD, O) flock(FD, LOCK_UN)
 # define OS_ERROR(X) X
 # define OS_UNLINK(X) unlink(X)
+# define OS_ISUNLINKED(X) ih_isunlinked(X)
+extern int ih_isunlinked(FD_t fd);
 # define OS_DIRSEP "/"
 # define OS_DIRSEPC '/'
 #endif
@@ -550,6 +555,7 @@ extern afs_sfsize_t ih_size(FD_t);
 #define FDH_SIZE(H) OS_SIZE((H)->fd_fd)
 #define FDH_LOCKFILE(H, O) OS_LOCKFILE((H)->fd_fd, O)
 #define FDH_UNLOCKFILE(H, O) OS_UNLOCKFILE((H)->fd_fd, O)
+#define FDH_ISUNLINKED(H) OS_ISUNLINKED((H)->fd_fd)
 
 #ifdef AFS_NT40_ENV
 # define afs_stat_st     __stat64