diff --git a/fs/f2fs/data.c b/fs/f2fs/data.c
index b61e2d40cdfb3d7e5cc2b04d6f5caa8d720ac0d6..1013836c5b6b3f41ce2c0d381b44ebbecf60d6c5 100644
--- a/fs/f2fs/data.c
+++ b/fs/f2fs/data.c
@@ -1546,7 +1546,8 @@ static int prepare_write_begin(struct f2fs_sb_info *sbi,
 		if (pos + len <= MAX_INLINE_DATA) {
 			read_inline_data(page, ipage);
 			set_inode_flag(F2FS_I(inode), FI_DATA_EXIST);
-			set_inline_node(ipage);
+			if (inode->i_nlink)
+				set_inline_node(ipage);
 		} else {
 			err = f2fs_convert_inline_page(&dn, page);
 			if (err)