A file storage system that uses a server to communicate between a client and a storage system. The server receives a file storage request pertaining to a file, generates and stores a file record for the request and forwards the request to a file storage system. The server performs either an internal retry or forwards a no-file response from the storage system to the client computer in response to receiving a no-file file status from the storage system depending on an amount of elapsed time from the time the server initially receives the file storage request.