A system and method for updating files in a file system that is linked to a database system which stores metadata pertaining to the files. Changes intended to be made to an original file are written to a replacement file, and when the user is ready to move the changes onto the original file, a database transaction is commenced. If the transaction commits, the replacement file is renamed to the original file and the file security attributes of the original file are applied. Otherwise, the rename operation does not take place, thereby ensuring consistency between the metadata in the dbms system and the file system data that is represented by the metadata.