diff --git a/common.sh b/common.sh
index 6ca91ba..98fb10d 100755
--- a/common.sh
+++ b/common.sh
@@ -2273,8 +2273,10 @@ acquire_rsync_lock() {
 # ==============================================================================================
 # Generic get/set for flat "key<sep>value" state files (one entry per line) — the pattern
 # every watchdog's strike-tracking and state-file logic was independently reimplementing.
-# grep -v + tempfile-swap on write, not sed -i in place — avoids sed treating a key containing
-# regex metacharacters (container names, etc.) as part of the substitution pattern.
+# Keys are matched as literal prefixes via awk substr(), never as regexes. A key is often a
+# media file path, and a release tag like [Bluray-1080p] is a valid-looking bracket expression
+# holding the reversed range 1-0 — grep -E rejects it, exits 2, and the tempfile-swap then
+# commits an empty file, silently wiping every other entry.
 #
 # Usage: wd_state_get "$key" "$file" [sep=:]
 #        wd_state_set "$key" "$value" "$file" [sep=:]
@@ -2284,14 +2286,24 @@ acquire_rsync_lock() {
 # keep their own thin same-named wrapper around these rather than changing call sites.
 wd_state_get() {
     local key="$1" file="$2" sep="${3:-:}"
-    grep -E "^${key}${sep}" "$file" 2>/dev/null | cut -d"$sep" -f2-
+    [[ -f "$file" ]] || return 0
+    awk -v pfx="${key}${sep}" \
+        'substr($0, 1, length(pfx)) == pfx { print substr($0, length(pfx) + 1); exit }' \
+        "$file" 2>/dev/null
 }
 
+# Returns 1 without touching the state file if the rewrite fails, so a read error costs the
+# caller one update rather than the whole file.
 wd_state_set() {
     local key="$1" value="$2" file="$3" sep="${4:-:}"
-    grep -vE "^${key}${sep}" "$file" 2>/dev/null > "${file}.tmp"
-    echo "${key}${sep}${value}" >> "${file}.tmp"
-    mv "${file}.tmp" "$file"
+    local tmp="${file}.tmp"
+    : > "$tmp" || return 1
+    if [[ -f "$file" ]]; then
+        awk -v pfx="${key}${sep}" \
+            'substr($0, 1, length(pfx)) != pfx' "$file" > "$tmp" || { rm -f "$tmp"; return 1; }
+    fi
+    echo "${key}${sep}${value}" >> "$tmp"
+    mv "$tmp" "$file"
 }
 
 # ==============================================================================================