diff --git a/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/HTable.java b/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/HTable.java
index ce5a44c..e5c0713 100644
--- a/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/HTable.java
+++ b/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/HTable.java
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.Cell;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HColumnDescriptor;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HConstants;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HRegionLocation;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HTableDescriptor;
@@ -71,6 +72,7 @@ import com.google.protobuf.Descriptors;
 import com.google.protobuf.Message;
 import com.google.protobuf.Service;
 import com.google.protobuf.ServiceException;
+import com.sun.org.apache.bcel.internal.generic.GETFIELD;

 /**
  * An implementation of {@link Table}. Used to communicate with a single HBase table.
@@ -341,6 +343,19 @@ public class HTable implements HTableInterface {
     if (scan.getBatch() > 0 && scan.isSmall()) {
       throw new IllegalArgumentException("Small scan should not be used with batching");
     }
+    if (scan.hasFilter()) {
+      boolean useEssential = false;
+      for (HColumnDescriptor family : getTableDescriptor().getColumnFamilies()) {
+        if (scan.getFilter().isFamilyEssential(family.getName())) {
+          useEssential = true;
+          break;
+        }
+      }
+      if (useEssential && scan.getAllowPartialResults()) {
+        throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+          "Essential column family filter and partial Scan cannot be used together: data loss");
+      }
+    }

     if (scan.getCaching() <= 0) {
       scan.setCaching(scannerCaching);