diff --git a/drivers/md/md.c b/drivers/md/md.c
index 2b30ffd..44bb1d5 100644
--- a/drivers/md/md.c
+++ b/drivers/md/md.c
@@ -607,6 +607,7 @@
 	init_waitqueue_head(&mddev->sb_wait);
 	init_waitqueue_head(&mddev->recovery_wait);
 	mddev->reshape_position = MaxSector;
+	mddev->reshape_backwards = 0;
 	mddev->resync_min = 0;
 	mddev->resync_max = MaxSector;
 	mddev->level = LEVEL_NONE;
@@ -1185,6 +1186,7 @@
 		mddev->events = ev1;
 		mddev->bitmap_info.offset = 0;
 		mddev->bitmap_info.default_offset = MD_SB_BYTES >> 9;
+		mddev->reshape_backwards = 0;
 
 		if (mddev->minor_version >= 91) {
 			mddev->reshape_position = sb->reshape_position;
@@ -1192,6 +1194,8 @@
 			mddev->new_level = sb->new_level;
 			mddev->new_layout = sb->new_layout;
 			mddev->new_chunk_sectors = sb->new_chunk >> 9;
+			if (mddev->delta_disks < 0)
+				mddev->reshape_backwards = 1;
 		} else {
 			mddev->reshape_position = MaxSector;
 			mddev->delta_disks = 0;
@@ -1645,7 +1649,8 @@
 		mddev->events = ev1;
 		mddev->bitmap_info.offset = 0;
 		mddev->bitmap_info.default_offset = 1024 >> 9;
-		
+		mddev->reshape_backwards = 0;
+
 		mddev->recovery_cp = le64_to_cpu(sb->resync_offset);
 		memcpy(mddev->uuid, sb->set_uuid, 16);
 
@@ -1662,6 +1667,11 @@
 			mddev->new_level = le32_to_cpu(sb->new_level);
 			mddev->new_layout = le32_to_cpu(sb->new_layout);
 			mddev->new_chunk_sectors = le32_to_cpu(sb->new_chunk);
+			if (mddev->delta_disks < 0 ||
+			    (mddev->delta_disks == 0 &&
+			     (le32_to_cpu(sb->feature_map)
+			      & MD_FEATURE_RESHAPE_BACKWARDS)))
+				mddev->reshape_backwards = 1;
 		} else {
 			mddev->reshape_position = MaxSector;
 			mddev->delta_disks = 0;
@@ -1781,6 +1791,10 @@
 		sb->delta_disks = cpu_to_le32(mddev->delta_disks);
 		sb->new_level = cpu_to_le32(mddev->new_level);
 		sb->new_chunk = cpu_to_le32(mddev->new_chunk_sectors);
+		if (mddev->delta_disks == 0 &&
+		    mddev->reshape_backwards)
+			sb->feature_map
+				|= cpu_to_le32(MD_FEATURE_RESHAPE_BACKWARDS);
 	}
 
 	if (rdev->badblocks.count == 0)
@@ -3419,6 +3433,7 @@
 		mddev->new_chunk_sectors = mddev->chunk_sectors;
 		mddev->raid_disks -= mddev->delta_disks;
 		mddev->delta_disks = 0;
+		mddev->reshape_backwards = 0;
 		module_put(pers->owner);
 		printk(KERN_WARNING "md: %s: %s would not accept array\n",
 		       mdname(mddev), clevel);
@@ -3492,6 +3507,7 @@
 	mddev->layout = mddev->new_layout;
 	mddev->chunk_sectors = mddev->new_chunk_sectors;
 	mddev->delta_disks = 0;
+	mddev->reshape_backwards = 0;
 	mddev->degraded = 0;
 	if (mddev->pers->sync_request == NULL) {
 		/* this is now an array without redundancy, so
@@ -3585,6 +3601,7 @@
 		int olddisks = mddev->raid_disks - mddev->delta_disks;
 		mddev->delta_disks = n - olddisks;
 		mddev->raid_disks = n;
+		mddev->reshape_backwards = (mddev->delta_disks < 0);
 	} else
 		mddev->raid_disks = n;
 	return rv ? rv : len;
@@ -4436,6 +4453,7 @@
 		return -EINVAL;
 	mddev->reshape_position = new;
 	mddev->delta_disks = 0;
+	mddev->reshape_backwards = 0;
 	mddev->new_level = mddev->level;
 	mddev->new_layout = mddev->layout;
 	mddev->new_chunk_sectors = mddev->chunk_sectors;
@@ -4447,6 +4465,42 @@
        reshape_position_store);
 
 static ssize_t
+reshape_direction_show(struct mddev *mddev, char *page)
+{
+	return sprintf(page, "%s\n",
+		       mddev->reshape_backwards ? "backwards" : "forwards");
+}
+
+static ssize_t
+reshape_direction_store(struct mddev *mddev, const char *buf, size_t len)
+{
+	int backwards = 0;
+	if (cmd_match(buf, "forwards"))
+		backwards = 0;
+	else if (cmd_match(buf, "backwards"))
+		backwards = 1;
+	else
+		return -EINVAL;
+	if (mddev->reshape_backwards == backwards)
+		return len;
+
+	/* check if we are allowed to change */
+	if (mddev->delta_disks)
+		return -EBUSY;
+
+	if (mddev->persistent &&
+	    mddev->major_version == 0)
+		return -EINVAL;
+
+	mddev->reshape_backwards = backwards;
+	return len;
+}
+
+static struct md_sysfs_entry md_reshape_direction =
+__ATTR(reshape_direction, S_IRUGO|S_IWUSR, reshape_direction_show,
+       reshape_direction_store);
+
+static ssize_t
 array_size_show(struct mddev *mddev, char *page)
 {
 	if (mddev->external_size)
@@ -4501,6 +4555,7 @@
 	&md_safe_delay.attr,
 	&md_array_state.attr,
 	&md_reshape_position.attr,
+	&md_reshape_direction.attr,
 	&md_array_size.attr,
 	&max_corr_read_errors.attr,
 	NULL,
@@ -5064,6 +5119,7 @@
 	mddev->events = 0;
 	mddev->can_decrease_events = 0;
 	mddev->delta_disks = 0;
+	mddev->reshape_backwards = 0;
 	mddev->new_level = LEVEL_NONE;
 	mddev->new_layout = 0;
 	mddev->new_chunk_sectors = 0;
@@ -5888,6 +5944,7 @@
 	mddev->new_chunk_sectors = mddev->chunk_sectors;
 	mddev->new_layout = mddev->layout;
 	mddev->delta_disks = 0;
+	mddev->reshape_backwards = 0;
 
 	return 0;
 }
@@ -5953,10 +6010,16 @@
 	if (mddev->sync_thread || mddev->reshape_position != MaxSector)
 		return -EBUSY;
 	mddev->delta_disks = raid_disks - mddev->raid_disks;
+	if (mddev->delta_disks < 0)
+		mddev->reshape_backwards = 1;
+	else if (mddev->delta_disks > 0)
+		mddev->reshape_backwards = 0;
 
 	rv = mddev->pers->check_reshape(mddev);
-	if (rv < 0)
+	if (rv < 0) {
 		mddev->delta_disks = 0;
+		mddev->reshape_backwards = 0;
+	}
 	return rv;
 }
 
diff --git a/drivers/md/md.h b/drivers/md/md.h
index 1c2063c..d51c0ca 100644
--- a/drivers/md/md.h
+++ b/drivers/md/md.h
@@ -262,6 +262,7 @@
 	sector_t			reshape_position;
 	int				delta_disks, new_level, new_layout;
 	int				new_chunk_sectors;
+	int				reshape_backwards;
 
 	atomic_t			plug_cnt;	/* If device is expecting
 							 * more bios soon.
diff --git a/drivers/md/raid5.c b/drivers/md/raid5.c
index f351422..0abbd34 100644
--- a/drivers/md/raid5.c
+++ b/drivers/md/raid5.c
@@ -3970,13 +3970,13 @@
 			 * to check again.
 			 */
 			spin_lock_irq(&conf->device_lock);
-			if (mddev->delta_disks < 0
+			if (mddev->reshape_backwards
 			    ? logical_sector < conf->reshape_progress
 			    : logical_sector >= conf->reshape_progress) {
 				disks = conf->previous_raid_disks;
 				previous = 1;
 			} else {
-				if (mddev->delta_disks < 0
+				if (mddev->reshape_backwards
 				    ? logical_sector < conf->reshape_safe
 				    : logical_sector >= conf->reshape_safe) {
 					spin_unlock_irq(&conf->device_lock);
@@ -4009,7 +4009,7 @@
 				 */
 				int must_retry = 0;
 				spin_lock_irq(&conf->device_lock);
-				if (mddev->delta_disks < 0
+				if (mddev->reshape_backwards
 				    ? logical_sector >= conf->reshape_progress
 				    : logical_sector < conf->reshape_progress)
 					/* mismatch, need to try again */
@@ -4108,11 +4108,11 @@
 
 	if (sector_nr == 0) {
 		/* If restarting in the middle, skip the initial sectors */
-		if (mddev->delta_disks < 0 &&
+		if (mddev->reshape_backwards &&
 		    conf->reshape_progress < raid5_size(mddev, 0, 0)) {
 			sector_nr = raid5_size(mddev, 0, 0)
 				- conf->reshape_progress;
-		} else if (mddev->delta_disks >= 0 &&
+		} else if (!mddev->reshape_backwards &&
 			   conf->reshape_progress > 0)
 			sector_nr = conf->reshape_progress;
 		sector_div(sector_nr, new_data_disks);
@@ -4147,7 +4147,7 @@
 	sector_div(readpos, data_disks);
 	safepos = conf->reshape_safe;
 	sector_div(safepos, data_disks);
-	if (mddev->delta_disks < 0) {
+	if (mddev->reshape_backwards) {
 		writepos -= min_t(sector_t, reshape_sectors, writepos);
 		readpos += reshape_sectors;
 		safepos += reshape_sectors;
@@ -4174,7 +4174,7 @@
 	 * Maybe that number should be configurable, but I'm not sure it is
 	 * worth it.... maybe it could be a multiple of safemode_delay???
 	 */
-	if ((mddev->delta_disks < 0
+	if ((mddev->reshape_backwards
 	     ? (safepos > writepos && readpos < writepos)
 	     : (safepos < writepos && readpos > writepos)) ||
 	    time_after(jiffies, conf->reshape_checkpoint + 10*HZ)) {
@@ -4195,7 +4195,7 @@
 		sysfs_notify(&mddev->kobj, NULL, "sync_completed");
 	}
 
-	if (mddev->delta_disks < 0) {
+	if (mddev->reshape_backwards) {
 		BUG_ON(conf->reshape_progress == 0);
 		stripe_addr = writepos;
 		BUG_ON((mddev->dev_sectors &
@@ -4239,7 +4239,7 @@
 		list_add(&sh->lru, &stripes);
 	}
 	spin_lock_irq(&conf->device_lock);
-	if (mddev->delta_disks < 0)
+	if (mddev->reshape_backwards)
 		conf->reshape_progress -= reshape_sectors * new_data_disks;
 	else
 		conf->reshape_progress += reshape_sectors * new_data_disks;
@@ -5008,7 +5008,7 @@
 				       mdname(mddev));
 				return -EINVAL;
 			}
-		} else if (mddev->delta_disks < 0
+		} else if (mddev->reshape_backwards
 		    ? (here_new * mddev->new_chunk_sectors <=
 		       here_old * mddev->chunk_sectors)
 		    : (here_new * mddev->new_chunk_sectors >=
@@ -5535,7 +5535,7 @@
 	conf->chunk_sectors = mddev->new_chunk_sectors;
 	conf->prev_algo = conf->algorithm;
 	conf->algorithm = mddev->new_layout;
-	if (mddev->delta_disks < 0)
+	if (mddev->reshape_backwards)
 		conf->reshape_progress = raid5_size(mddev, 0, 0);
 	else
 		conf->reshape_progress = 0;
@@ -5663,6 +5663,7 @@
 		mddev->chunk_sectors = conf->chunk_sectors;
 		mddev->reshape_position = MaxSector;
 		mddev->delta_disks = 0;
+		mddev->reshape_backwards = 0;
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/include/linux/raid/md_p.h b/include/linux/raid/md_p.h
index 8c0a3ad..07e05f9 100644
--- a/include/linux/raid/md_p.h
+++ b/include/linux/raid/md_p.h
@@ -281,10 +281,15 @@
 					    * active device with same 'role'.
 					    * 'recovery_offset' is also set.
 					    */
+#define	MD_FEATURE_RESHAPE_BACKWARDS	32 /* Reshape doesn't change number
+					    * of devices, but is going
+					    * backwards anyway.
+					    */
 #define	MD_FEATURE_ALL			(MD_FEATURE_BITMAP_OFFSET	\
 					|MD_FEATURE_RECOVERY_OFFSET	\
 					|MD_FEATURE_RESHAPE_ACTIVE	\
 					|MD_FEATURE_BAD_BLOCKS		\
-					|MD_FEATURE_REPLACEMENT)
+					|MD_FEATURE_REPLACEMENT		\
+					|MD_FEATURE_RESHAPE_BACKWARDS)
 
 #endif