diff --git a/contrib/basic_archive/basic_archive.c b/contrib/basic_archive/basic_archive.c
index ed33854c578..e7efbfb9c34 100644
--- a/contrib/basic_archive/basic_archive.c
+++ b/contrib/basic_archive/basic_archive.c
@@ -281,10 +281,9 @@ basic_archive_file_internal(const char *file, const char *path)
 
 	/*
 	 * Sync the temporary file to disk and move it to its final destination.
-	 * Note that this will overwrite any existing file, but this is only
-	 * possible if someone else created the file since the stat() above.
+	 * This will fail if destination already exists.
 	 */
-	(void) durable_rename(temp, destination, ERROR);
+	(void) durable_rename_excl(temp, destination, ERROR);
 
 	ereport(DEBUG1,
 			(errmsg("archived \"%s\" via basic_archive", file)));
diff --git a/src/backend/access/transam/timeline.c b/src/backend/access/transam/timeline.c
index c9344e5e8b4..be21968293c 100644
--- a/src/backend/access/transam/timeline.c
+++ b/src/backend/access/transam/timeline.c
@@ -439,11 +439,14 @@ writeTimeLineHistory(TimeLineID newTLI, TimeLineID parentTLI,
 
 	/*
 	 * Now move the completed history file into place with its final name.
-	 * The target file should not exist.
 	 */
 	TLHistoryFilePath(path, newTLI);
-	Assert(access(path, F_OK) != 0 && errno == ENOENT);
-	durable_rename(tmppath, path, ERROR);
+
+	/*
+	 * Perform the rename using link if available, paranoidly trying to avoid
+	 * overwriting an existing file (there shouldn't be one).
+	 */
+	durable_rename_excl(tmppath, path, ERROR);
 
 	/* The history file can be archived immediately. */
 	if (XLogArchivingActive())
@@ -514,11 +517,14 @@ writeTimeLineHistoryFile(TimeLineID tli, char *content, int size)
 
 	/*
 	 * Now move the completed history file into place with its final name.
-	 * The target file should not exist.
 	 */
 	TLHistoryFilePath(path, tli);
-	Assert(access(path, F_OK) != 0 && errno == ENOENT);
-	durable_rename(tmppath, path, ERROR);
+
+	/*
+	 * Perform the rename using link if available, paranoidly trying to avoid
+	 * overwriting an existing file (there shouldn't be one).
+	 */
+	durable_rename_excl(tmppath, path, ERROR);
 }
 
 /*
diff --git a/src/backend/access/transam/xlog.c b/src/backend/access/transam/xlog.c
index 45c84e3959c..61cda56c6ff 100644
--- a/src/backend/access/transam/xlog.c
+++ b/src/backend/access/transam/xlog.c
@@ -3323,12 +3323,14 @@ InstallXLogFileSegment(XLogSegNo *segno, char *tmppath,
 		}
 	}
 
-	/* The target file should not exist */
-	Assert(access(path, F_OK) != 0 && errno == ENOENT);
-	if (durable_rename(tmppath, path, LOG) != 0)
+	/*
+	 * Perform the rename using link if available, paranoidly trying to avoid
+	 * overwriting an existing file (there shouldn't be one).
+	 */
+	if (durable_rename_excl(tmppath, path, LOG) != 0)
 	{
 		LWLockRelease(ControlFileLock);
-		/* durable_rename already emitted log message */
+		/* durable_rename_excl already emitted log message */
 		return false;
 	}
 
diff --git a/src/backend/storage/file/fd.c b/src/backend/storage/file/fd.c
index f904f60c086..24704b6a023 100644
--- a/src/backend/storage/file/fd.c
+++ b/src/backend/storage/file/fd.c
@@ -807,6 +807,69 @@ durable_unlink(const char *fname, int elevel)
 	return 0;
 }
 
+/*
+ * durable_rename_excl -- rename a file in a durable manner.
+ *
+ * Similar to durable_rename(), except that this routine tries (but does not
+ * guarantee) not to overwrite the target file.
+ *
+ * Note that a crash in an unfortunate moment can leave you with two links to
+ * the target file.
+ *
+ * Log errors with the caller specified severity.
+ *
+ * On Windows, using a hard link followed by unlink() causes concurrency
+ * issues, while a simple rename() does not cause that, so be careful when
+ * changing the logic of this routine.
+ *
+ * Returns 0 if the operation succeeded, -1 otherwise. Note that errno is not
+ * valid upon return.
+ */
+int
+durable_rename_excl(const char *oldfile, const char *newfile, int elevel)
+{
+	/*
+	 * Ensure that, if we crash directly after the rename/link, a file with
+	 * valid contents is moved into place.
+	 */
+	if (fsync_fname_ext(oldfile, false, false, elevel) != 0)
+		return -1;
+
+#ifdef HAVE_WORKING_LINK
+	if (link(oldfile, newfile) < 0)
+	{
+		ereport(elevel,
+				(errcode_for_file_access(),
+				 errmsg("could not link file \"%s\" to \"%s\": %m",
+						oldfile, newfile)));
+		return -1;
+	}
+	unlink(oldfile);
+#else
+	if (rename(oldfile, newfile) < 0)
+	{
+		ereport(elevel,
+				(errcode_for_file_access(),
+				 errmsg("could not rename file \"%s\" to \"%s\": %m",
+						oldfile, newfile)));
+		return -1;
+	}
+#endif
+
+	/*
+	 * Make change persistent in case of an OS crash, both the new entry and
+	 * its parent directory need to be flushed.
+	 */
+	if (fsync_fname_ext(newfile, false, false, elevel) != 0)
+		return -1;
+
+	/* Same for parent directory */
+	if (fsync_parent_path(newfile, elevel) != 0)
+		return -1;
+
+	return 0;
+}
+
 /*
  * InitFileAccess --- initialize this module during backend startup
  *
diff --git a/src/include/pg_config_manual.h b/src/include/pg_config_manual.h
index 830804fdfbf..84ce5a4a5d7 100644
--- a/src/include/pg_config_manual.h
+++ b/src/include/pg_config_manual.h
@@ -163,6 +163,13 @@
 #define USE_BARRIER_SMGRRELEASE
 #endif
 
+/*
+ * Define this if your operating system supports link()
+ */
+#if !defined(WIN32) && !defined(__CYGWIN__)
+#define HAVE_WORKING_LINK 1
+#endif
+
 /*
  * USE_POSIX_FADVISE controls whether Postgres will attempt to use the
  * posix_fadvise() kernel call.  Usually the automatic configure tests are
diff --git a/src/include/storage/fd.h b/src/include/storage/fd.h
index 2b4a8e0ffe8..69549b000fa 100644
--- a/src/include/storage/fd.h
+++ b/src/include/storage/fd.h
@@ -187,6 +187,7 @@ extern void fsync_fname(const char *fname, bool isdir);
 extern int	fsync_fname_ext(const char *fname, bool isdir, bool ignore_perm, int elevel);
 extern int	durable_rename(const char *oldfile, const char *newfile, int loglevel);
 extern int	durable_unlink(const char *fname, int loglevel);
+extern int	durable_rename_excl(const char *oldfile, const char *newfile, int loglevel);
 extern void SyncDataDirectory(void);
 extern int	data_sync_elevel(int elevel);