diff --git a/geomesa-fs/geomesa-fs-storage/geomesa-fs-storage-core/pom.xml b/geomesa-fs/geomesa-fs-storage/geomesa-fs-storage-core/pom.xml
index 953b7e3710c..3fa4e41c8a0 100644
--- a/geomesa-fs/geomesa-fs-storage/geomesa-fs-storage-core/pom.xml
+++ b/geomesa-fs/geomesa-fs-storage/geomesa-fs-storage-core/pom.xml
@@ -93,6 +93,10 @@
             <groupId>org.testcontainers</groupId>
             <artifactId>testcontainers</artifactId>
         </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.testcontainers</groupId>
+            <artifactId>testcontainers-minio</artifactId>
+        </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.testcontainers</groupId>
             <artifactId>testcontainers-postgresql</artifactId>
diff --git a/geomesa-fs/geomesa-fs-storage/geomesa-fs-storage-core/src/main/scala/org/locationtech/geomesa/fs/storage/core/metadata/FileBasedMetadata.scala b/geomesa-fs/geomesa-fs-storage/geomesa-fs-storage-core/src/main/scala/org/locationtech/geomesa/fs/storage/core/metadata/FileBasedMetadata.scala
index 102ba0f9696..2becfab6cdf 100644
--- a/geomesa-fs/geomesa-fs-storage/geomesa-fs-storage-core/src/main/scala/org/locationtech/geomesa/fs/storage/core/metadata/FileBasedMetadata.scala
+++ b/geomesa-fs/geomesa-fs-storage/geomesa-fs-storage-core/src/main/scala/org/locationtech/geomesa/fs/storage/core/metadata/FileBasedMetadata.scala
@@ -125,27 +125,33 @@ class FileBasedMetadata(fs: ObjectStore, meta: Metadata, directory: URI)
     while (!lockAcquired && retries < maxAttempts) {
       try {
         // try to create lock file with overwrite=false for atomicity
-        WithClose(fs.create(lockFilePath)) {
-          case None =>
-            // lock file exists, check if it's stale
-            retries += 1
-            if (isLockStale(lockFilePath)) {
-              // remove stale lock and retry
-              try {
-                fs.delete(lockFilePath)
-              } catch {
-                case NonFatal(_) => // ignore, will retry
-              }
-            } else {
-              // wait and retry
-              Thread.sleep(LockRetryDelay.toMillis.get)
+        try {
+          fs.create(lockFilePath).foreach { out =>
+            try {
+              // write lock info for debugging - hostname + timestamp
+              val lockInfo = s"${java.net.InetAddress.getLocalHost.getHostName}:${System.currentTimeMillis()}"
+              out.write(lockInfo.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8))
+            } finally {
+              out.close()
             }
-          case Some(out) =>
-            // write lock info for debugging - hostname + timestamp
-            val lockInfo = s"${java.net.InetAddress.getLocalHost.getHostName}:${System.currentTimeMillis()}"
-            out.write(lockInfo.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8))
+            lockAcquired = true
+          }
+        } catch {
+          case NonFatal(e) => logger.debug("Error writing lock file, may already exist?", e)
+        }
+
+        if (!lockAcquired) {
+          // lock file exists, check if it's stale
+          retries += 1
+          fs.modified(lockFilePath).foreach { modified =>
+            val age = System.currentTimeMillis() - modified
+            if (age > LockTimeout.toMillis.get) {
+              fs.delete(lockFilePath)
+            }
+          }
+          // wait and retry
+          Thread.sleep(LockRetryDelay.toMillis.get)
         }
-        lockAcquired = true
       } catch {
         case NonFatal(e) => throw new RuntimeException(s"Failed to acquire lock at $lockFilePath", e)
       }
@@ -178,20 +184,6 @@ class FileBasedMetadata(fs: ObjectStore, meta: Metadata, directory: URI)
       }
     }
   }
-
-  /**
-   * Check if a lock file is stale (older than lock timeout)
-   */
-  private def isLockStale(lockPath: URI): Boolean = {
-    try {
-      fs.modified(lockPath).forall { modified =>
-        val age = System.currentTimeMillis() - modified
-        age > LockTimeout.toMillis.get
-      }
-    } catch {
-      case NonFatal(_) => true // if we can't read it, consider it stale
-    }
-  }
 }
 
 object FileBasedMetadata {
diff --git a/geomesa-fs/geomesa-fs-storage/geomesa-fs-storage-core/src/test/scala/org/locationtech/geomesa/fs/storage/core/fs/S3ObjectStoreTest.scala b/geomesa-fs/geomesa-fs-storage/geomesa-fs-storage-core/src/test/scala/org/locationtech/geomesa/fs/storage/core/fs/S3ObjectStoreTest.scala
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..61255672276
--- /dev/null
+++ b/geomesa-fs/geomesa-fs-storage/geomesa-fs-storage-core/src/test/scala/org/locationtech/geomesa/fs/storage/core/fs/S3ObjectStoreTest.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+/***********************************************************************
+ * Copyright (c) 2013-2025 General Atomics Integrated Intelligence, Inc.
+ * All rights reserved. This program and the accompanying materials
+ * are made available under the terms of the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * which accompanies this distribution and is available at
+ * https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ ***********************************************************************/
+
+package org.locationtech.geomesa.fs.storage.core.fs
+
+import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils
+import org.locationtech.geomesa.fs.storage.core.FileSystemContext
+import org.locationtech.geomesa.utils.io.WithClose
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory
+import org.specs2.mutable.SpecificationWithJUnit
+import org.specs2.specification.BeforeAfterAll
+import org.testcontainers.containers.MinIOContainer
+import org.testcontainers.containers.output.Slf4jLogConsumer
+import org.testcontainers.utility.DockerImageName
+
+import java.net.URI
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets
+
+class S3ObjectStoreTest extends SpecificationWithJUnit with BeforeAfterAll {
+
+  var minio: MinIOContainer = _
+
+  lazy val conf = Map(
+    "fs.s3.region" -> "us-east-1",
+    "fs.s3.endpoint" -> minio.getS3URL,
+    "fs.s3.access-key-id" -> minio.getUserName,
+    "fs.s3.secret-access-key" -> minio.getPassword,
+    "fs.s3.force-path-style" -> "true",
+  )
+  lazy val context = FileSystemContext(new URI("s3://geomesa/fs/"), conf, None)
+
+  override def beforeAll(): Unit = {
+    minio =
+      new MinIOContainer(
+        DockerImageName.parse("minio/minio").withTag(sys.props.getOrElse("minio.docker.tag", "RELEASE.2024-10-29T16-01-48Z")))
+    minio.start()
+    minio.followOutput(new Slf4jLogConsumer(LoggerFactory.getLogger("minio")))
+    minio.execInContainer("mc", "alias", "set", "localhost", "http://localhost:9000", minio.getUserName, minio.getPassword)
+    minio.execInContainer("mc", "mb", "localhost/geomesa")
+  }
+
+  override def afterAll(): Unit = {
+    if (minio != null) {
+      minio.close()
+    }
+  }
+
+  "S3ObjectStore" should {
+    "prevent overwriting existing files in create" in {
+      WithClose(ObjectStore(context)) { fs =>
+        val file = new URI("s3://geomesa/fs/tmp.txt")
+        val first = fs.create(file).orNull
+        first must not(beNull)
+        val second = fs.create(file).orNull
+        second must not(beNull) // object doesn't exist yet as first request is still open
+        first.write("foo".getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8))
+        second.write("bar".getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8))
+        second.close() must not(throwAn[Exception])
+        first.close() must throwAn[Exception]
+        WithClose(fs.read(file)) { opt =>
+          opt must beSome
+          IOUtils.toString(opt.get, StandardCharsets.UTF_8) mustEqual "bar"
+        }
+        fs.create(file) must beNone
+      }
+    }
+  }
+}