1. A method comprising: locating, by the processing device of a first server, an image file in a replication directory hierarchy in a second server; determining, prior to a first request to access the image file by a client application after the second server is coupled to a cluster of servers in a file system, that a first region of the image file comprises stale data indicating at least a portion of data is out of date; acquiring, by the processing device, a partial lock on the first region of the image file while write access is provided on a second region of the image file not comprising the stale data; and updating the stale data with current data.