diff --git a/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/io/TestHalfStoreFileReader.java b/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/io/TestHalfStoreFileReader.java
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+++ b/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/io/TestHalfStoreFileReader.java
@@ -0,0 +1,141 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2010 The Apache Software Foundation
+ *
+ * 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
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.apache.hadoop.hbase.io;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.fs.FileSystem;
+import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Path;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseTestingUtility;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.KeyValue;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.io.hfile.HFile;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.io.hfile.HFileScanner;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Bytes;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+
+
+public class TestHalfStoreFileReader {
+
+  /**
+   * Test the scanner and reseek of a half hfile scanner. The scanner API
+   * demands that seekTo and reseekTo() only return < 0 if the key lies
+   * before the start of the file (with no position on the scanner). Returning
+   * 0 if perfect match (rare), and return > 1 if we got an imperfect match.
+   *
+   * The latter case being the most common, we should generally be returning 1,
+   * and if we do, there may or may not be a 'next' in the scanner/file.
+   *
+   * A bug in the half file scanner was returning -1 at the end of the bottom
+   * half, and that was causing the infrastructure above to go null causing NPEs
+   * and other problems.  This test reproduces that failure, and also tests
+   * both the bottom and top of the file while we are at it.
+   *
+   * @throws IOException
+   */
+  @Test
+  public void testHalfScanAndReseek() throws IOException {
+    HBaseTestingUtility test_util = new HBaseTestingUtility();
+    String root_dir = HBaseTestingUtility.getTestDir("TestHalfStoreFile").toString();
+    Path p = new Path(root_dir, "test");
+
+    FileSystem fs = FileSystem.get(test_util.getConfiguration());
+
+    HFile.Writer w = new HFile.Writer(fs, p, 1024, "none", KeyValue.KEY_COMPARATOR);
+
+    // write some things.
+    List<KeyValue> items = genSomeKeys();
+    for (KeyValue kv : items) {
+      w.append(kv);
+    }
+    w.close();
+
+    HFile.Reader r = new HFile.Reader(fs, p, null, false);
+    r.loadFileInfo();
+    byte [] midkey = r.midkey();
+    KeyValue midKV = KeyValue.createKeyValueFromKey(midkey);
+    midkey = midKV.getRow();
+
+    //System.out.println("midkey: " + midKV + " or: " + Bytes.toStringBinary(midkey));
+
+    Reference bottom = new Reference(midkey, Reference.Range.bottom);
+    doTestOfScanAndReseek(p, fs, bottom);
+
+    Reference top = new Reference(midkey, Reference.Range.top);
+    doTestOfScanAndReseek(p, fs, top);
+  }
+
+  private void doTestOfScanAndReseek(Path p, FileSystem fs, Reference bottom)
+      throws IOException {
+    final HalfStoreFileReader halfreader =
+        new HalfStoreFileReader(fs, p, null, bottom);
+    halfreader.loadFileInfo();
+    final HFileScanner scanner = halfreader.getScanner(false, false);
+
+    scanner.seekTo();
+    KeyValue curr;
+    do {
+      curr = scanner.getKeyValue();
+      KeyValue reseekKv =
+          getLastOnCol(curr);
+      int ret = scanner.reseekTo(reseekKv.getKey());
+      assertTrue("reseek to returned: " + ret, ret > 0);
+      //System.out.println(curr + ": " + ret);
+    } while (scanner.next());
+
+    int ret = scanner.reseekTo(getLastOnCol(curr).getKey());
+    //System.out.println("Last reseek: " + ret);
+    assertTrue( ret > 0 );
+  }
+
+  private KeyValue getLastOnCol(KeyValue curr) {
+    return KeyValue.createLastOnRow(
+        curr.getBuffer(), curr.getRowOffset(), curr.getRowLength(),
+        curr.getBuffer(), curr.getFamilyOffset(), curr.getFamilyLength(),
+        curr.getBuffer(), curr.getQualifierOffset(), curr.getQualifierLength());
+  }
+
+  static final int SIZE = 1000;
+
+  static byte[] _b(String s) {
+    return Bytes.toBytes(s);
+  }
+
+  List<KeyValue> genSomeKeys() {
+    List<KeyValue> ret = new ArrayList<KeyValue>(SIZE);
+    for (int i = 0 ; i < SIZE; i++) {
+      KeyValue kv =
+          new KeyValue(
+              _b(String.format("row_%04d", i)),
+              _b("family"),
+              _b("qualifier"),
+              1000, // timestamp
+              _b("value"));
+      ret.add(kv);
+    }
+    return ret;
+  }
+
+
+}