diff --git a/weed/server/volume_grpc_erasure_coding.go b/weed/server/volume_grpc_erasure_coding.go
index 45cd2e6fe..f4a1d15ca 100644
--- a/weed/server/volume_grpc_erasure_coding.go
+++ b/weed/server/volume_grpc_erasure_coding.go
@@ -1007,6 +1007,13 @@ func (vs *VolumeServer) VolumeEcShardsToVolume(ctx context.Context, req *volume_
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("WriteDatFile %s: %v", dataBaseFileName, err)
 	}
 
+	// Fail the decode rather than report a short volume: the caller deletes the
+	// shards once this call returns, and today its only check is that the files
+	// are non-empty.
+	if err := erasure_coding.VerifyDecodedDatFile(dataBaseFileName, datFileSize); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
 	// write .idx file from .ecx and .ecj files
 	if err := erasure_coding.WriteIdxFileFromEcIndex(indexBaseFileName); err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("WriteIdxFileFromEcIndex %s: %v", v.IndexBaseFileName(), err)
diff --git a/weed/storage/erasure_coding/ec_decoder.go b/weed/storage/erasure_coding/ec_decoder.go
index 5b08a232f..5bf4342d3 100644
--- a/weed/storage/erasure_coding/ec_decoder.go
+++ b/weed/storage/erasure_coding/ec_decoder.go
@@ -126,6 +126,24 @@ func FindDatFileSize(shard0FileName, indexBaseFileName string) (datSize int64, e
 	return
 }
 
+// VerifyDecodedDatFile checks that a reconstructed .dat is long enough to hold
+// every needle its index references. datFileSize is the extent the EC index
+// describes (see FindDatFileSize), so a shorter file cannot serve the needles
+// past the cut -- and the caller is about to delete the shards that are their
+// only other copy, which turns a short write into data loss rather than a
+// failed decode.
+func VerifyDecodedDatFile(dataBaseFileName string, datFileSize int64) error {
+	datPath := dataBaseFileName + ".dat"
+	stat, err := os.Stat(datPath)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("stat decoded %s: %w", datPath, err)
+	}
+	if stat.Size() < datFileSize {
+		return fmt.Errorf("decoded %s is %d bytes, short of the %d its ec index references", datPath, stat.Size(), datFileSize)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
 func readEcVolumeVersion(shard0FileName string) (version needle.Version, err error) {
 
 	// find volume version
diff --git a/weed/storage/erasure_coding/ec_decoder_completeness_test.go b/weed/storage/erasure_coding/ec_decoder_completeness_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..50ec85359
--- /dev/null
+++ b/weed/storage/erasure_coding/ec_decoder_completeness_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+package erasure_coding
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+// A decode hands the caller a volume and the caller then deletes the shards it
+// came from. VerifyDecodedDatFile is what stands between a reconstruction that
+// came up short -- a truncated shard, a partial write, a full disk -- and the
+// deletion of the only other copy of the needles past the cut.
+func TestVerifyDecodedDatFile(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name        string
+		written     int64
+		referenced  int64
+		wantErr     bool
+		errContains string
+	}{
+		{
+			name:       "exactly the referenced extent is complete",
+			written:    4096,
+			referenced: 4096,
+		},
+		{
+			name:       "longer than referenced is fine: padding is not missing data",
+			written:    8192,
+			referenced: 4096,
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "one byte short still loses the last needle",
+			written:     4095,
+			referenced:  4096,
+			wantErr:     true,
+			errContains: "short of the 4096",
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "an empty file is short of everything",
+			written:     0,
+			referenced:  4096,
+			wantErr:     true,
+			errContains: "is 0 bytes",
+		},
+		{
+			name:       "an index referencing nothing accepts an empty file",
+			written:    0,
+			referenced: 0,
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			base := filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "5")
+			if err := os.WriteFile(base+".dat", make([]byte, tt.written), 0644); err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+
+			err := VerifyDecodedDatFile(base, tt.referenced)
+			if tt.wantErr {
+				if err == nil {
+					t.Fatalf("wrote %d bytes against a %d-byte extent, want an error", tt.written, tt.referenced)
+				}
+				if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), tt.errContains) {
+					t.Errorf("error %q does not mention %q", err, tt.errContains)
+				}
+				return
+			}
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatalf("wrote %d bytes against a %d-byte extent: %v", tt.written, tt.referenced, err)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+// A missing .dat is not a short one, and the two want different answers: the
+// caller cannot tell whether the decode wrote nothing or wrote elsewhere, so
+// the error has to name the file rather than a byte count.
+func TestVerifyDecodedDatFileMissing(t *testing.T) {
+	base := filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "7")
+
+	err := VerifyDecodedDatFile(base, 4096)
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("a missing .dat must not verify")
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "stat decoded") {
+		t.Errorf("error %q does not say the file could not be read", err)
+	}
+}