diff --git a/lfs.c b/lfs.c
index d5885ca0..6e49851d 100644
--- a/lfs.c
+++ b/lfs.c
@@ -3401,6 +3401,15 @@ static int lfs_file_sync_(lfs_t *lfs, lfs_file_t *file) {
 
     if ((file->flags & LFS_F_DIRTY) &&
             !lfs_pair_isnull(file->m.pair)) {
+        // before we commit metadata, we need sync the disk to make sure
+        // data writes don't complete after metadata writes
+        if (!(file->flags & LFS_F_INLINE)) {
+            err = lfs_bd_sync(lfs, &lfs->pcache, &lfs->rcache, false);
+            if (err) {
+                return err;
+            }
+        }
+
         // update dir entry
         uint16_t type;
         const void *buffer;