diff --git a/hw/ide/core.c b/hw/ide/core.c
index 00e21cf7ef..d4af5e2eb1 100644
--- a/hw/ide/core.c
+++ b/hw/ide/core.c
@@ -2401,7 +2401,7 @@ static int ide_drive_post_load(void *opaque, int version_id)
 {
     IDEState *s = opaque;
 
-    if (s->identify_set) {
+    if (s->blk && s->identify_set) {
         blk_set_enable_write_cache(s->blk, !!(s->identify_data[85] & (1 << 5)));
     }
     return 0;