diff --git a/block.c b/block.c
index 61795fea46..58efb5b4e4 100644
--- a/block.c
+++ b/block.c
@@ -2869,9 +2869,10 @@ int64_t bdrv_getlength(BlockDriverState *bs)
     if (!drv)
         return -ENOMEDIUM;
 
-    if (bdrv_dev_has_removable_media(bs)) {
-        if (drv->bdrv_getlength) {
-            return drv->bdrv_getlength(bs);
+    if (drv->has_variable_length) {
+        int ret = refresh_total_sectors(bs, bs->total_sectors);
+        if (ret < 0) {
+            return ret;
         }
     }
     return bs->total_sectors * BDRV_SECTOR_SIZE;
diff --git a/block/raw-posix.c b/block/raw-posix.c
index 6f03fbf793..f6d48bbdb2 100644
--- a/block/raw-posix.c
+++ b/block/raw-posix.c
@@ -1715,7 +1715,8 @@ static BlockDriver bdrv_host_floppy = {
     .bdrv_aio_flush	= raw_aio_flush,
 
     .bdrv_truncate      = raw_truncate,
-    .bdrv_getlength	= raw_getlength,
+    .bdrv_getlength      = raw_getlength,
+    .has_variable_length = true,
     .bdrv_get_allocated_file_size
                         = raw_get_allocated_file_size,
 
@@ -1824,7 +1825,8 @@ static BlockDriver bdrv_host_cdrom = {
     .bdrv_aio_flush	= raw_aio_flush,
 
     .bdrv_truncate      = raw_truncate,
-    .bdrv_getlength     = raw_getlength,
+    .bdrv_getlength      = raw_getlength,
+    .has_variable_length = true,
     .bdrv_get_allocated_file_size
                         = raw_get_allocated_file_size,
 
@@ -1951,7 +1953,8 @@ static BlockDriver bdrv_host_cdrom = {
     .bdrv_aio_flush	= raw_aio_flush,
 
     .bdrv_truncate      = raw_truncate,
-    .bdrv_getlength     = raw_getlength,
+    .bdrv_getlength      = raw_getlength,
+    .has_variable_length = true,
     .bdrv_get_allocated_file_size
                         = raw_get_allocated_file_size,
 
diff --git a/block/raw-win32.c b/block/raw-win32.c
index 676b5701db..2741e4de10 100644
--- a/block/raw-win32.c
+++ b/block/raw-win32.c
@@ -616,7 +616,9 @@ static BlockDriver bdrv_host_device = {
     .bdrv_aio_writev    = raw_aio_writev,
     .bdrv_aio_flush     = raw_aio_flush,
 
-    .bdrv_getlength	= raw_getlength,
+    .bdrv_getlength      = raw_getlength,
+    .has_variable_length = true,
+
     .bdrv_get_allocated_file_size
                         = raw_get_allocated_file_size,
 };
diff --git a/block/raw_bsd.c b/block/raw_bsd.c
index 0078c1baeb..2265dcc03f 100644
--- a/block/raw_bsd.c
+++ b/block/raw_bsd.c
@@ -178,6 +178,7 @@ static BlockDriver bdrv_raw = {
     .bdrv_co_get_block_status = &raw_co_get_block_status,
     .bdrv_truncate        = &raw_truncate,
     .bdrv_getlength       = &raw_getlength,
+    .has_variable_length  = true,
     .bdrv_get_info        = &raw_get_info,
     .bdrv_is_inserted     = &raw_is_inserted,
     .bdrv_media_changed   = &raw_media_changed,
diff --git a/include/block/block_int.h b/include/block/block_int.h
index a48731d539..166606615c 100644
--- a/include/block/block_int.h
+++ b/include/block/block_int.h
@@ -156,8 +156,11 @@ struct BlockDriver {
 
     const char *protocol_name;
     int (*bdrv_truncate)(BlockDriverState *bs, int64_t offset);
+
     int64_t (*bdrv_getlength)(BlockDriverState *bs);
+    bool has_variable_length;
     int64_t (*bdrv_get_allocated_file_size)(BlockDriverState *bs);
+
     int (*bdrv_write_compressed)(BlockDriverState *bs, int64_t sector_num,
                                  const uint8_t *buf, int nb_sectors);