diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/io/FileLink.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/io/FileLink.java
index 09ad3f4f575..184f7881a54 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/io/FileLink.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/io/FileLink.java
@@ -362,7 +362,7 @@ public class FileLink {
 
   @Override
   public String toString() {
-    StringBuilder str = new StringBuilder(getClass().getName());
+    StringBuilder str = new StringBuilder(getClass().getSimpleName());
     str.append(" locations=[");
     for (int i = 0; i < locations.length; ++i) {
       if (i > 0) str.append(", ");
@@ -393,7 +393,7 @@ public class FileLink {
         return locations[i];
       }
     }
-    throw new FileNotFoundException("Unable to open link: " + this);
+    throw new FileNotFoundException(toString());
   }
 
   /**
@@ -416,7 +416,7 @@ public class FileLink {
   }
 
   /**
-   * Handle exceptions which are threw when access locations of file link
+   * Handle exceptions which are thrown when access locations of file link
    * @param fileLink the file link
    * @param newException the exception caught by access the current location
    * @param previousException the previous exception caught by access the other locations
@@ -436,7 +436,7 @@ public class FileLink {
     if (newException instanceof FileNotFoundException) {
       // Try another file location
       if (previousException == null) {
-        previousException = new FileNotFoundException("Unable to open link: " + fileLink);
+        previousException = new FileNotFoundException(fileLink.toString());
       }
     } else if (newException instanceof AccessControlException) {
       // Try another file location
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/io/HFileLink.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/io/HFileLink.java
index 2aebdf0d04e..959a5ab71e2 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/io/HFileLink.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/io/HFileLink.java
@@ -70,6 +70,9 @@ public class HFileLink extends FileLink {
    * Region name is ([a-f0-9]+), so '-' is an invalid character for the region name.
    * HFile is ([0-9a-f]+(?:_SeqId_[0-9]+_)?) covering the plain hfiles (uuid)
    * and the bulk loaded (_SeqId_[0-9]+_) hfiles.
+   *
+   * <p>Here is an example name: /hbase/test/0123/cf/testtb=4567-abcd where 'testtb' is table name
+   * and '4567' is region name and 'abcd' is filename.
    */
   public static final String LINK_NAME_REGEX =
     String.format("(?:(?:%s=)?)%s=%s-%s",
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/StoreFileInfo.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/StoreFileInfo.java
index f0437d57968..578f8068856 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/StoreFileInfo.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/StoreFileInfo.java
@@ -285,7 +285,16 @@ public class StoreFileInfo {
     } else if (this.reference != null) {
       // HFile Reference
       Path referencePath = getReferredToFile(this.getPath());
-      in = new FSDataInputStreamWrapper(fs, referencePath, doDropBehind, readahead);
+      try {
+        in = new FSDataInputStreamWrapper(fs, referencePath, doDropBehind, readahead);
+      } catch (FileNotFoundException fnfe) {
+        // Intercept the exception so can insert more info about the Reference; otherwise
+        // exception just complains about some random file -- operator doesn't realize it
+        // other end of a Reference
+        FileNotFoundException newFnfe = new FileNotFoundException(toString());
+        newFnfe.initCause(fnfe);
+        throw newFnfe;
+      }
       status = fs.getFileStatus(referencePath);
     } else {
       in = new FSDataInputStreamWrapper(fs, this.getPath(), doDropBehind, readahead);
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/TestStoreFileInfo.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/TestStoreFileInfo.java
index 24b73a520a6..bfef9bbdbc8 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/TestStoreFileInfo.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/TestStoreFileInfo.java
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/**
+/*
  * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
  * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
  * distributed with this work for additional information
@@ -17,19 +17,27 @@
  */
 package org.apache.hadoop.hbase.regionserver;
 
-import static org.junit.Assert.*;
-
+import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.fs.FileSystem;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Path;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseClassTestRule;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseTestingUtility;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HConstants;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.io.HFileLink;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.io.Reference;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.testclassification.RegionServerTests;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.testclassification.SmallTests;
 import org.junit.ClassRule;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.junit.experimental.categories.Category;
 
+import static junit.framework.TestCase.assertTrue;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertFalse;
+
 /**
  * Test HStoreFile
  */
@@ -88,5 +96,39 @@ public class TestStoreFileInfo {
     assertEquals(info1, info2);
     assertEquals(info1.hashCode(), info2.hashCode());
   }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testOpenErrorMessageHFileLink() throws IOException, IllegalStateException {
+    // Test file link exception
+    // Try to open nonsense hfilelink. Make sure exception is from HFileLink.
+    Path p = new Path("/hbase/test/0123/cf/testtb=4567-abcd");
+    try (FileSystem fs = FileSystem.get(TEST_UTIL.getConfiguration())) {
+      StoreFileInfo sfi = new StoreFileInfo(TEST_UTIL.getConfiguration(), fs, p);
+      try {
+        sfi.open(fs, null, false, 1000, true, new AtomicInteger(), false);
+        throw new IllegalStateException();
+      } catch (FileNotFoundException fnfe) {
+        assertTrue(fnfe.getMessage().contains(HFileLink.class.getSimpleName()));
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testOpenErrorMessageReference() throws IOException {
+    // Test file link exception
+    // Try to open nonsense hfilelink. Make sure exception is from HFileLink.
+    Path p = new Path(TEST_UTIL.getDataTestDirOnTestFS(),"4567.abcd");
+    FileSystem fs = FileSystem.get(TEST_UTIL.getConfiguration());
+    fs.mkdirs(p.getParent());
+    Reference r = Reference.createBottomReference(HConstants.EMPTY_START_ROW);
+    r.write(fs, p);
+    StoreFileInfo sfi = new StoreFileInfo(TEST_UTIL.getConfiguration(), fs, p);
+    try {
+      sfi.open(fs, null, false, 1000, true, new AtomicInteger(), false);
+      throw new IllegalStateException();
+    } catch (FileNotFoundException fnfe) {
+      assertTrue(fnfe.getMessage().contains("->"));
+    }
+  }
 }