diff --git a/[refs] b/[refs]
index 6d1902762650..4a27c0c79ab4 100644
--- a/[refs]
+++ b/[refs]
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 ---
-refs/heads/master: 27c529bb8e906d5d692152bc127cc09477d3629e
+refs/heads/master: 8ed3a19563b6c05b7625649b1769ddb063d53253
diff --git a/trunk/drivers/md/raid10.c b/trunk/drivers/md/raid10.c
index 5de42d87bf4e..6c486d839c99 100644
--- a/trunk/drivers/md/raid10.c
+++ b/trunk/drivers/md/raid10.c
@@ -537,7 +537,8 @@ static int read_balance(conf_t *conf, r10bio_t *r10_bio)
 	current_distance = abs(r10_bio->devs[slot].addr -
 			       conf->mirrors[disk].head_position);
 
-	/* Find the disk whose head is closest */
+	/* Find the disk whose head is closest,
+	 * or - for far > 1 - find the closest to partition beginning */
 
 	for (nslot = slot; nslot < conf->copies; nslot++) {
 		int ndisk = r10_bio->devs[nslot].devnum;
@@ -557,8 +558,13 @@ static int read_balance(conf_t *conf, r10bio_t *r10_bio)
 			slot = nslot;
 			break;
 		}
-		new_distance = abs(r10_bio->devs[nslot].addr -
-				   conf->mirrors[ndisk].head_position);
+
+		/* for far > 1 always use the lowest address */
+		if (conf->far_copies > 1)
+			new_distance = r10_bio->devs[nslot].addr;
+		else
+			new_distance = abs(r10_bio->devs[nslot].addr -
+					   conf->mirrors[ndisk].head_position);
 		if (new_distance < current_distance) {
 			current_distance = new_distance;
 			disk = ndisk;