diff --git a/fs/ocfs2/journal.c b/fs/ocfs2/journal.c
index 5c2bd578b728..f4cd58b5c6fe 100644
--- a/fs/ocfs2/journal.c
+++ b/fs/ocfs2/journal.c
@@ -192,31 +192,48 @@ int ocfs2_recovery_init(struct ocfs2_super *osb)
 	return 0;
 }
 
-/* we can't grab the goofy sem lock from inside wait_event, so we use
- * memory barriers to make sure that we'll see the null task before
- * being woken up */
 static int ocfs2_recovery_thread_running(struct ocfs2_super *osb)
 {
-	mb();
 	return osb->recovery_thread_task != NULL;
 }
 
+static void ocfs2_recovery_disable(struct ocfs2_super *osb,
+				   enum ocfs2_recovery_state state)
+{
+	mutex_lock(&osb->recovery_lock);
+	/*
+	 * If recovery thread is not running, we can directly transition to
+	 * final state.
+	 */
+	if (!ocfs2_recovery_thread_running(osb)) {
+		osb->recovery_state = state + 1;
+		goto out_lock;
+	}
+	osb->recovery_state = state;
+	/* Wait for recovery thread to acknowledge state transition */
+	wait_event_cmd(osb->recovery_event,
+		       !ocfs2_recovery_thread_running(osb) ||
+				osb->recovery_state >= state + 1,
+		       mutex_unlock(&osb->recovery_lock),
+		       mutex_lock(&osb->recovery_lock));
+out_lock:
+	mutex_unlock(&osb->recovery_lock);
+
+	/*
+	 * At this point we know that no more recovery work can be queued so
+	 * wait for any recovery completion work to complete.
+	 */
+	if (osb->ocfs2_wq)
+		flush_workqueue(osb->ocfs2_wq);
+}
+
 void ocfs2_recovery_exit(struct ocfs2_super *osb)
 {
 	struct ocfs2_recovery_map *rm;
 
 	/* disable any new recovery threads and wait for any currently
 	 * running ones to exit. Do this before setting the vol_state. */
-	mutex_lock(&osb->recovery_lock);
-	osb->recovery_state = OCFS2_REC_DISABLED;
-	mutex_unlock(&osb->recovery_lock);
-	wait_event(osb->recovery_event, !ocfs2_recovery_thread_running(osb));
-
-	/* At this point, we know that no more recovery threads can be
-	 * launched, so wait for any recovery completion work to
-	 * complete. */
-	if (osb->ocfs2_wq)
-		flush_workqueue(osb->ocfs2_wq);
+	ocfs2_recovery_disable(osb, OCFS2_REC_WANT_DISABLE);
 
 	/*
 	 * Now that recovery is shut down, and the osb is about to be
@@ -1536,7 +1553,8 @@ bail:
 
 	ocfs2_free_replay_slots(osb);
 	osb->recovery_thread_task = NULL;
-	mb(); /* sync with ocfs2_recovery_thread_running */
+	if (osb->recovery_state == OCFS2_REC_WANT_DISABLE)
+		osb->recovery_state = OCFS2_REC_DISABLED;
 	wake_up(&osb->recovery_event);
 
 	mutex_unlock(&osb->recovery_lock);
@@ -1552,13 +1570,13 @@ void ocfs2_recovery_thread(struct ocfs2_super *osb, int node_num)
 	int was_set = -1;
 
 	mutex_lock(&osb->recovery_lock);
-	if (osb->recovery_state < OCFS2_REC_DISABLED)
+	if (osb->recovery_state < OCFS2_REC_WANT_DISABLE)
 		was_set = ocfs2_recovery_map_set(osb, node_num);
 
 	trace_ocfs2_recovery_thread(node_num, osb->node_num,
 		osb->recovery_state, osb->recovery_thread_task, was_set);
 
-	if (osb->recovery_state == OCFS2_REC_DISABLED)
+	if (osb->recovery_state >= OCFS2_REC_WANT_DISABLE)
 		goto out;
 
 	if (osb->recovery_thread_task)
diff --git a/fs/ocfs2/ocfs2.h b/fs/ocfs2/ocfs2.h
index fc111d2a0c2d..610e22daa2ad 100644
--- a/fs/ocfs2/ocfs2.h
+++ b/fs/ocfs2/ocfs2.h
@@ -286,6 +286,10 @@ enum ocfs2_mount_options
 
 enum ocfs2_recovery_state {
 	OCFS2_REC_ENABLED = 0,
+	OCFS2_REC_WANT_DISABLE,
+	/*
+	 * Must be OCFS2_REC_WANT_DISABLE + 1 for ocfs2_recovery_exit() to work
+	 */
 	OCFS2_REC_DISABLED,
 };