mutex_unlock(&inode->i_mutex);
 
        nilfs = inode->i_sb->s_fs_info;
-       if (!err && nilfs_test_opt(nilfs, BARRIER)) {
-               err = blkdev_issue_flush(inode->i_sb->s_bdev, GFP_KERNEL, NULL);
-               if (err != -EIO)
-                       err = 0;
-       }
+       if (!err)
+               err = nilfs_flush_device(nilfs);
+
        return err;
 }
 
 
                return ret;
 
        nilfs = inode->i_sb->s_fs_info;
-       if (nilfs_test_opt(nilfs, BARRIER)) {
-               ret = blkdev_issue_flush(inode->i_sb->s_bdev, GFP_KERNEL, NULL);
-               if (ret == -EIO)
-                       return ret;
-       }
+       ret = nilfs_flush_device(nilfs);
+       if (ret < 0)
+               return ret;
 
        if (argp != NULL) {
                down_read(&nilfs->ns_segctor_sem);
 
        nilfs_set_next_segment(nilfs, segbuf);
 
        if (update_sr) {
+               nilfs->ns_flushed_device = 0;
                nilfs_set_last_segment(nilfs, segbuf->sb_pseg_start,
                                       segbuf->sb_sum.seg_seq, nilfs->ns_cno++);
 
        sci->sc_dsync_end = end;
 
        err = nilfs_segctor_do_construct(sci, SC_LSEG_DSYNC);
+       if (!err)
+               nilfs->ns_flushed_device = 0;
 
        nilfs_transaction_unlock(sb);
        return err;
 
                                            nilfs->ns_sbsize));
        }
        clear_nilfs_sb_dirty(nilfs);
+       nilfs->ns_flushed_device = 1;
+       /* make sure store to ns_flushed_device cannot be reordered */
+       smp_wmb();
        return nilfs_sync_super(sb, flag);
 }
 
        }
        up_write(&nilfs->ns_sem);
 
+       if (!err)
+               err = nilfs_flush_device(nilfs);
+
        return err;
 }
 
 
 /**
  * struct the_nilfs - struct to supervise multiple nilfs mount points
  * @ns_flags: flags
+ * @ns_flushed_device: flag indicating if all volatile data was flushed
  * @ns_bdev: block device
  * @ns_sem: semaphore for shared states
  * @ns_snapshot_mount_mutex: mutex to protect snapshot mounts
  */
 struct the_nilfs {
        unsigned long           ns_flags;
+       int                     ns_flushed_device;
 
        struct block_device    *ns_bdev;
        struct rw_semaphore     ns_sem;
        return n == nilfs->ns_segnum || n == nilfs->ns_nextnum;
 }
 
+static inline int nilfs_flush_device(struct the_nilfs *nilfs)
+{
+       int err;
+
+       if (!nilfs_test_opt(nilfs, BARRIER) || nilfs->ns_flushed_device)
+               return 0;
+
+       nilfs->ns_flushed_device = 1;
+       /*
+        * the store to ns_flushed_device must not be reordered after
+        * blkdev_issue_flush().
+        */
+       smp_wmb();
+
+       err = blkdev_issue_flush(nilfs->ns_bdev, GFP_KERNEL, NULL);
+       if (err != -EIO)
+               err = 0;
+       return err;
+}
+
 #endif /* _THE_NILFS_H */