title: Working on two unrelated files in separate git branches
body: <p>I recently started working on a project which uses Git for version control. I have to fix two defects, <code>Defect1</code> and <code>Defect2</code>. Fixes for <code>Defect1</code> and <code>Defect2</code> need changes to <code>File1</code> and <code>File2</code> respectively. These two files are unrelated to each other. </p>
  
  <p>I want to work on each defect in a separate Git branch. I created two branches, <code>fix_Defect1</code> and <code>fix_Defect2</code>, and want to work on them independently. The fixes are complex, so I cannot complete one fix and commit it before switching to the other. I observe that when I switch from <code>fix_Defect1</code> to <code>fix_Defect2</code>, any changes made to <code>File1</code> also appear (and vice versa). Is there some way to avoid this from happening?</p>
  
  <p>From the Git help, I could not figure out any way. I also searched on SO for <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/search?q=git%20work%20with%20multiple%20branches">git work with multiple branches</a>, and found <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1334027/git-working-on-multiple-branches">Git and working on multiple branches</a> and <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/12082525/using-git-with-multiple-branches-at-once">Using git with multiple branches at once</a>, which are close but somewhat different from my question. </p>
  
  <p>I can clone multiple copies of the repository per branch in a separate directory, but it seems like I would be missing the full power of Git branching by doing so, besides wasting disk space. Could you please suggest a good approach to handle this scenario? </p>