diff --git a/block/cfq-iosched.c b/block/cfq-iosched.c
index 6508345..a33bd43 100644
--- a/block/cfq-iosched.c
+++ b/block/cfq-iosched.c
@@ -130,6 +130,8 @@
 	unsigned long slice_end;
 	long slice_resid;
 
+	/* pending metadata requests */
+	int meta_pending;
 	/* number of requests that are on the dispatch list or inside driver */
 	int dispatched;
 
@@ -682,6 +684,9 @@
 	if (rq_is_sync(rq1) != rq_is_sync(rq2))
 		return rq_is_sync(rq1) ? rq1 : rq2;
 
+	if ((rq1->cmd_flags ^ rq2->cmd_flags) & REQ_META)
+		return rq1->cmd_flags & REQ_META ? rq1 : rq2;
+
 	s1 = blk_rq_pos(rq1);
 	s2 = blk_rq_pos(rq2);
 
@@ -1607,6 +1612,10 @@
 	cfqq->cfqd->rq_queued--;
 	cfq_blkiocg_update_io_remove_stats(&(RQ_CFQG(rq))->blkg,
 					rq_data_dir(rq), rq_is_sync(rq));
+	if (rq->cmd_flags & REQ_META) {
+		WARN_ON(!cfqq->meta_pending);
+		cfqq->meta_pending--;
+	}
 }
 
 static int cfq_merge(struct request_queue *q, struct request **req,
@@ -3360,6 +3369,13 @@
 		return true;
 
 	/*
+	 * So both queues are sync. Let the new request get disk time if
+	 * it's a metadata request and the current queue is doing regular IO.
+	 */
+	if ((rq->cmd_flags & REQ_META) && !cfqq->meta_pending)
+		return true;
+
+	/*
 	 * Allow an RT request to pre-empt an ongoing non-RT cfqq timeslice.
 	 */
 	if (cfq_class_rt(new_cfqq) && !cfq_class_rt(cfqq))
@@ -3423,6 +3439,8 @@
 	struct cfq_io_context *cic = RQ_CIC(rq);
 
 	cfqd->rq_queued++;
+	if (rq->cmd_flags & REQ_META)
+		cfqq->meta_pending++;
 
 	cfq_update_io_thinktime(cfqd, cfqq, cic);
 	cfq_update_io_seektime(cfqd, cfqq, rq);