Funky file contents when os.rename or os.remove are interrupted

[Russell Warren]

I've got a case where I'm seeing text files that are either all null
characters, or are trailed with nulls due to interrupted file access
resulting from an electrical power interruption on the WinXP pc.

In tracking it down, it seems that what is being interrupted is either
os.remove(), or os.rename().  Has anyone seen this behaviour, or have
any clue what is going on?

On first pass I would think that both of those calls are single step
operations (removing/changing an entry in the FAT, or FAT-like thing,
on the HDD) and wouldn't result in an intermediate, null-populated,
step, but the evidence seems to indicate I'm wrong...

Any insight from someone with knowledge of the internal operations of
os.remove and/or os.rename would be greatly appreciated, although I
expect the crux may be at the os level and not in python.

Russ