A system and method to protect a target file from data damage wherein a wrapper application transparently intercepts a write call operative to affect the target file and stores the pertinent data in a delta file. Occasionally the target file is backed up in a temporary file and then updated. The wrapper application also intercepts a read call operative to access the target file and merges the update information with data from the target file in a temporary file. The resulting merged data is returned as read results data.