diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/events/fsstore/EventSequence.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/events/fsstore/EventSequence.java
index cc26ad2..9ab49fd 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/events/fsstore/EventSequence.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/events/fsstore/EventSequence.java
@@ -37,8 +37,8 @@
   protected static class EventBuilder extends UpdatableFileValue.UpdateBuilder {
     public EventBuilder(BasePaths paths, String event) throws IOException {
       super(paths);
-      FileValue.prepare(udir.resolve(EVENT), event); // Phase 1+
-      // build/<tmp>/<uuid>/event
+      FileValue.prepare(next.resolve(EVENT), event); // Phase 1+
+      // build/<tmp>/<uuid>/next/event
     }
   }
 
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@
     /** Advance through phases 2 - 6 */
     protected UniqueUpdate(String uuid, boolean ours, long maxTries) throws IOException {
       super(EventSequence.this, uuid, ours, maxTries);
-      event = upaths.udir.resolve(EVENT);
+      event = upaths.next.resolve(EVENT);
       spinFinish();
     }
 
@@ -63,8 +63,8 @@
     protected void storeEvent() throws IOException {
       Path destination = getEventDestination(next);
       // Phase 2+
-      if (Fs.tryAtomicMove(event, destination)) { // rename update/<uuid>/event -> destination
-        // now there should be: update/<uuid>/ and destination (file)
+      if (Fs.tryAtomicMove(event, destination)) { // rename update/<uuid>/next/event -> destination
+        // now there should be: update/<uuid>/next/ and destination (file)
         this.destination = destination;
       }
     }
@@ -85,9 +85,9 @@
   protected UniqueUpdate spinSubmit(String event, long maxTries) throws IOException {
     try (EventBuilder b = new EventBuilder(paths, event)) {
       for (long tries = 0; tries < maxTries; tries++) {
-        // Phase 1
+        // Phase 1 (can only succeed if update is empty or non-existant)
         if (Fs.tryAtomicMove(b.dir, paths.update)) { // rename build/<tmp>/ -> update/
-          // now there should be: update/<uuid>/event
+          // now there should be: update/<uuid>/next/event
           synchronized (this) {
             totalUpdates++;
             totalSpins += tries - 1;
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/events/fsstore/UpdatableFileValue.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/events/fsstore/UpdatableFileValue.java
index 6f41b43..59cb13e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/events/fsstore/UpdatableFileValue.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/events/fsstore/UpdatableFileValue.java
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@
 public abstract class UpdatableFileValue<T> extends FileValue<T> {
   public static final Path CLOSED = Paths.get("closed");
   public static final Path INIT = Paths.get("init");
+  public static final Path NEXT = Paths.get("next");
   public static final Path PRESERVED = Paths.get("preserved");
   public static final Path UPDATE = Paths.get("update");
   public static final Path VALUE = Paths.get("value");
@@ -65,10 +66,12 @@
   protected static class UpdateBuilder extends FsTransaction.Builder {
     public final String uuid = UUID.randomUUID().toString();
     public final Path udir = dir.resolve(uuid);
+    public final Path next;
 
     public UpdateBuilder(BasePaths paths) throws IOException {
       super(paths);
-      Files.createDirectories(udir); // build/<tmp>/<uuid>/
+      next = udir.resolve(NEXT);
+      Files.createDirectories(next); // build/<tmp>/<uuid>/next
     }
   }
 
@@ -92,12 +95,14 @@
 
   protected static class UpdatePaths {
     public final Path udir;
+    public final Path next;
     public final Path closed;
     public final Path value;
 
     protected UpdatePaths(Path base, String uuid) {
       udir = base.resolve(uuid);
-      closed = udir.resolve(CLOSED);
+      next = udir.resolve(NEXT);
+      closed = next.resolve(CLOSED);
       value = closed.resolve(VALUE);
     }
   }
@@ -181,16 +186,18 @@
       if (!closed) {
         try (NextBuilder b =
             new NextBuilder(updatable.paths, updatable.serializer.fromGeneric(next))) { // Phase 3
-          // Phase 4
-          Fs.tryAtomicMove(b.dir, upaths.udir); // rename build/<tmp>/ -> update/<uuid>/
-          // now there should be: update/<uuid>/closed/value(next)
+
+          // Phase 4. Rename can only succeed if update/<uuid>/next/ is empty (desired) or
+          // non-existent (not desired). The later case is detected after the move.
+          Fs.tryAtomicMove(b.dir, upaths.next); // rename build/<tmp>/ -> update/<uuid>/next/
+          // now there should be: update/<uuid>/next/closed/value(next)
         }
 
         // Do not use the result of the move to determine if it is closed.
         // The move result could provide false positives due to some filesystem
         // implementions allowing a second move to succeed after the transaction
         // has been finished and the first "closed" has been deleted under the
-        // "delete" dir). Additionally, this check allows us to be able to detect
+        // "delete" dir. Additionally, this check allows us to be able to detect
         // closes by other actors, not just ourselves.
         closed = Files.exists(upaths.closed);
       }
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/events/fsstore/FsStoreTest.java b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/events/fsstore/FsStoreTest.java
index 76ccbbb..fb7539d 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/events/fsstore/FsStoreTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/events/fsstore/FsStoreTest.java
@@ -247,14 +247,7 @@
    *
    * <p>Note: if you do not specify <dir>, it will create a directory under /tmp
    *
-   * <p>Performance: NFS(Lowlatency,SSDs), 1 worker 1M, 266m ~16ms/event find events|wc -l 12s rm
-   * -rf 1m49s du -sh -> 3.9G 1m7s
-   *
-   * <p>Local(spinning) 1 workers 1M 21m58s ~13ms/event find events|wc -l 1.3s rm -rf 34s
-   *
-   * <p>Multi workers: NFS(LowLatency,LAN,SSDs) 8 hosts count=1000 (each) avg 273s 1000/34s
-   *
-   * <p>Mixed workers: NFS(WAN) 1 worker (+NFS LAN continuous) count=10, 3m28s
+   * <p>Local(spinning) 1 worker 1M 28m2s ~17ms/event find events|wc -l .97 rm -rf 30s
    */
   public static void main(String[] argv) throws Exception {
     List<String> args = new LinkedList<>();