diff --git a/hw/ide/pci.c b/hw/ide/pci.c
index 4331d77232..ec90f266e9 100644
--- a/hw/ide/pci.c
+++ b/hw/ide/pci.c
@@ -40,8 +40,27 @@ void bmdma_cmd_writeb(void *opaque, uint32_t addr, uint32_t val)
     printf("%s: 0x%08x\n", __func__, val);
 #endif
     if (!(val & BM_CMD_START)) {
-        /* XXX: do it better */
-        ide_dma_cancel(bm);
+        /*
+         * We can't cancel Scatter Gather DMA in the middle of the
+         * operation or a partial (not full) DMA transfer would reach
+         * the storage so we wait for completion instead (we beahve
+         * like if the DMA was completed by the time the guest trying
+         * to cancel dma with bmdma_cmd_writeb with BM_CMD_START not
+         * set).
+         *
+         * In the future we'll be able to safely cancel the I/O if the
+         * whole DMA operation will be submitted to disk with a single
+         * aio operation with preadv/pwritev.
+         */
+        if (bm->aiocb) {
+            qemu_aio_flush();
+#ifdef DEBUG_IDE
+            if (bm->aiocb)
+                printf("ide_dma_cancel: aiocb still pending");
+            if (bm->status & BM_STATUS_DMAING)
+                printf("ide_dma_cancel: BM_STATUS_DMAING still pending");
+#endif
+        }
         bm->cmd = val & 0x09;
     } else {
         if (!(bm->status & BM_STATUS_DMAING)) {