diff --git a/block/file-posix.c b/block/file-posix.c
index deefd6efac..59154ea936 100644
--- a/block/file-posix.c
+++ b/block/file-posix.c
@@ -1624,11 +1624,31 @@ static void raw_close(BlockDriverState *bs)
     }
 }
 
+/**
+ * Truncates the given regular file @fd to @offset and, when growing, fills the
+ * new space according to @prealloc.
+ *
+ * Returns: 0 on success, -errno on failure.
+ */
 static int raw_regular_truncate(int fd, int64_t offset, PreallocMode prealloc,
                                 Error **errp)
 {
     int result = 0;
-    char *buf;
+    int64_t current_length = 0;
+    char *buf = NULL;
+    struct stat st;
+
+    if (fstat(fd, &st) < 0) {
+        result = -errno;
+        error_setg_errno(errp, -result, "Could not stat file");
+        return result;
+    }
+
+    current_length = st.st_size;
+    if (current_length > offset && prealloc != PREALLOC_MODE_OFF) {
+        error_setg(errp, "Cannot use preallocation for shrinking files");
+        return -ENOTSUP;
+    }
 
     switch (prealloc) {
 #ifdef CONFIG_POSIX_FALLOCATE
@@ -1638,17 +1658,17 @@ static int raw_regular_truncate(int fd, int64_t offset, PreallocMode prealloc,
          * file systems that do not support fallocate(), trying to check if a
          * block is allocated before allocating it, so don't do that here.
          */
-        result = -posix_fallocate(fd, 0, offset);
+        result = -posix_fallocate(fd, current_length, offset - current_length);
         if (result != 0) {
             /* posix_fallocate() doesn't set errno. */
             error_setg_errno(errp, -result,
-                             "Could not preallocate data for the new file");
+                             "Could not preallocate new data");
         }
-        return result;
+        goto out;
 #endif
     case PREALLOC_MODE_FULL:
     {
-        int64_t num = 0, left = offset;
+        int64_t num = 0, left = offset - current_length;
 
         /*
          * Knowing the final size from the beginning could allow the file
@@ -1658,19 +1678,27 @@ static int raw_regular_truncate(int fd, int64_t offset, PreallocMode prealloc,
         if (ftruncate(fd, offset) != 0) {
             result = -errno;
             error_setg_errno(errp, -result, "Could not resize file");
-            return result;
+            goto out;
         }
 
         buf = g_malloc0(65536);
 
+        result = lseek(fd, current_length, SEEK_SET);
+        if (result < 0) {
+            result = -errno;
+            error_setg_errno(errp, -result,
+                             "Failed to seek to the old end of file");
+            goto out;
+        }
+
         while (left > 0) {
             num = MIN(left, 65536);
             result = write(fd, buf, num);
             if (result < 0) {
                 result = -errno;
                 error_setg_errno(errp, -result,
-                                 "Could not write to the new file");
-                break;
+                                 "Could not write zeros for preallocation");
+                goto out;
             }
             left -= result;
         }
@@ -1679,11 +1707,11 @@ static int raw_regular_truncate(int fd, int64_t offset, PreallocMode prealloc,
             if (result < 0) {
                 result = -errno;
                 error_setg_errno(errp, -result,
-                                 "Could not flush new file to disk");
+                                 "Could not flush file to disk");
+                goto out;
             }
         }
-        g_free(buf);
-        return result;
+        goto out;
     }
     case PREALLOC_MODE_OFF:
         if (ftruncate(fd, offset) != 0) {
@@ -1697,6 +1725,17 @@ static int raw_regular_truncate(int fd, int64_t offset, PreallocMode prealloc,
                    PreallocMode_lookup[prealloc]);
         return result;
     }
+
+out:
+    if (result < 0) {
+        if (ftruncate(fd, current_length) < 0) {
+            error_report("Failed to restore old file length: %s",
+                         strerror(errno));
+        }
+    }
+
+    g_free(buf);
+    return result;
 }
 
 static int raw_truncate(BlockDriverState *bs, int64_t offset,