diff --git a/block-qcow.c b/block-qcow.c
index b66ade35a7..fc6b809715 100644
--- a/block-qcow.c
+++ b/block-qcow.c
@@ -641,7 +641,7 @@ static BlockDriverAIOCB *qcow_aio_readv(BlockDriverState *bs,
     acb->sector_num = sector_num;
     acb->qiov = qiov;
     if (qiov->niov > 1)
-        acb->buf = acb->orig_buf = qemu_memalign(512, qiov->size);
+        acb->buf = acb->orig_buf = qemu_blockalign(bs, qiov->size);
     else
         acb->buf = (uint8_t *)qiov->iov->iov_base;
     acb->nb_sectors = nb_sectors;
@@ -736,7 +736,7 @@ static BlockDriverAIOCB *qcow_aio_writev(BlockDriverState *bs,
     acb->sector_num = sector_num;
     acb->qiov = qiov;
     if (qiov->niov > 1) {
-        acb->buf = acb->orig_buf = qemu_memalign(512, qiov->size);
+        acb->buf = acb->orig_buf = qemu_blockalign(bs, qiov->size);
         qemu_iovec_to_buffer(qiov, acb->buf);
     } else {
         acb->buf = (uint8_t *)qiov->iov->iov_base;
diff --git a/block-qcow2.c b/block-qcow2.c
index 7840634b57..1f3312590c 100644
--- a/block-qcow2.c
+++ b/block-qcow2.c
@@ -1412,7 +1412,7 @@ static QCowAIOCB *qcow_aio_setup(BlockDriverState *bs,
     acb->sector_num = sector_num;
     acb->qiov = qiov;
     if (qiov->niov > 1) {
-        acb->buf = acb->orig_buf = qemu_memalign(512, qiov->size);
+        acb->buf = acb->orig_buf = qemu_blockalign(bs, qiov->size);
         if (is_write)
             qemu_iovec_to_buffer(qiov, acb->buf);
     } else {
diff --git a/block-raw-posix.c b/block-raw-posix.c
index 822839fb8f..0663c0695b 100644
--- a/block-raw-posix.c
+++ b/block-raw-posix.c
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ static int raw_open(BlockDriverState *bs, const char *filename, int flags)
     s->fd = fd;
     s->aligned_buf = NULL;
     if ((flags & BDRV_O_NOCACHE)) {
-        s->aligned_buf = qemu_memalign(512, ALIGNED_BUFFER_SIZE);
+        s->aligned_buf = qemu_blockalign(bs, ALIGNED_BUFFER_SIZE);
         if (s->aligned_buf == NULL) {
             ret = -errno;
             close(fd);
diff --git a/block.c b/block.c
index 8348cf211e..3d1223d5e0 100644
--- a/block.c
+++ b/block.c
@@ -362,6 +362,8 @@ int bdrv_open2(BlockDriverState *bs, const char *filename, int flags,
     bs->is_temporary = 0;
     bs->encrypted = 0;
     bs->valid_key = 0;
+    /* buffer_alignment defaulted to 512, drivers can change this value */
+    bs->buffer_alignment = 512;
 
     if (flags & BDRV_O_SNAPSHOT) {
         BlockDriverState *bs1;
@@ -1390,7 +1392,7 @@ static BlockDriverAIOCB *bdrv_aio_rw_vector(BlockDriverState *bs,
     acb = qemu_aio_get(bs, cb, opaque);
     acb->is_write = is_write;
     acb->qiov = qiov;
-    acb->bounce = qemu_memalign(512, qiov->size);
+    acb->bounce = qemu_blockalign(bs, qiov->size);
 
     if (!acb->bh)
         acb->bh = qemu_bh_new(bdrv_aio_bh_cb, acb);
@@ -1640,3 +1642,8 @@ BlockDriverAIOCB *bdrv_aio_ioctl(BlockDriverState *bs,
         return drv->bdrv_aio_ioctl(bs, req, buf, cb, opaque);
     return NULL;
 }
+
+void *qemu_blockalign(BlockDriverState *bs, size_t size)
+{
+    return qemu_memalign((bs && bs->buffer_alignment) ? bs->buffer_alignment : 512, size);
+}
diff --git a/block_int.h b/block_int.h
index e10b9069f2..9d119404cf 100644
--- a/block_int.h
+++ b/block_int.h
@@ -145,6 +145,9 @@ struct BlockDriverState {
     /* Whether the disk can expand beyond total_sectors */
     int growable;
 
+    /* the memory alignment required for the buffers handled by this driver */
+    int buffer_alignment;
+
     /* NOTE: the following infos are only hints for real hardware
        drivers. They are not used by the block driver */
     int cyls, heads, secs, translation;
@@ -173,6 +176,8 @@ void *qemu_aio_get_pool(AIOPool *pool, BlockDriverState *bs,
                         BlockDriverCompletionFunc *cb, void *opaque);
 void qemu_aio_release(void *p);
 
+void *qemu_blockalign(BlockDriverState *bs, size_t size);
+
 extern BlockDriverState *bdrv_first;
 
 #endif /* BLOCK_INT_H */
diff --git a/hw/ide.c b/hw/ide.c
index fc70f36967..e61cefb696 100644
--- a/hw/ide.c
+++ b/hw/ide.c
@@ -2788,11 +2788,11 @@ static void ide_init2(IDEState *ide_state,
 
     for(i = 0; i < 2; i++) {
         s = ide_state + i;
-        s->io_buffer = qemu_memalign(512, IDE_DMA_BUF_SECTORS*512 + 4);
         if (i == 0)
             s->bs = hd0;
         else
             s->bs = hd1;
+        s->io_buffer = qemu_blockalign(s->bs, IDE_DMA_BUF_SECTORS*512 + 4);
         if (s->bs) {
             bdrv_get_geometry(s->bs, &nb_sectors);
             bdrv_guess_geometry(s->bs, &cylinders, &heads, &secs);