diff --git a/fs/ext3/super.c b/fs/ext3/super.c
index aad153e..b57ea2f 100644
--- a/fs/ext3/super.c
+++ b/fs/ext3/super.c
@@ -1718,6 +1718,8 @@
 	sbi->s_resuid = le16_to_cpu(es->s_def_resuid);
 	sbi->s_resgid = le16_to_cpu(es->s_def_resgid);
 
+	/* enable barriers by default */
+	set_opt(sbi->s_mount_opt, BARRIER);
 	set_opt(sbi->s_mount_opt, RESERVATION);
 
 	if (!parse_options ((char *) data, sb, &journal_inum, &journal_devnum,