diff --git a/block/file-posix.c b/block/file-posix.c
index b9c33c8f6c..3964dd2021 100644
--- a/block/file-posix.c
+++ b/block/file-posix.c
@@ -1755,6 +1755,27 @@ static int handle_aiocb_discard(void *opaque)
     return ret;
 }
 
+/*
+ * Help alignment detection by allocating the first block.
+ *
+ * When reading with direct I/O from unallocated area on Gluster backed by XFS,
+ * reading succeeds regardless of request length. In this case we fallback to
+ * safe aligment which is not optimal. Allocating the first block avoids this
+ * fallback.
+ *
+ * Returns: 0 on success, -errno on failure.
+ */
+static int allocate_first_block(int fd)
+{
+    ssize_t n;
+
+    do {
+        n = pwrite(fd, "\0", 1, 0);
+    } while (n == -1 && errno == EINTR);
+
+    return (n == -1) ? -errno : 0;
+}
+
 static int handle_aiocb_truncate(void *opaque)
 {
     RawPosixAIOData *aiocb = opaque;
@@ -1794,6 +1815,8 @@ static int handle_aiocb_truncate(void *opaque)
                 /* posix_fallocate() doesn't set errno. */
                 error_setg_errno(errp, -result,
                                  "Could not preallocate new data");
+            } else if (current_length == 0) {
+                allocate_first_block(fd);
             }
         } else {
             result = 0;
@@ -1855,6 +1878,8 @@ static int handle_aiocb_truncate(void *opaque)
         if (ftruncate(fd, offset) != 0) {
             result = -errno;
             error_setg_errno(errp, -result, "Could not resize file");
+        } else if (current_length == 0 && offset > current_length) {
+            allocate_first_block(fd);
         }
         return result;
     default:
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/150.out b/tests/qemu-iotests/150.out
index 2a54e8dcfa..3cdc7727a5 100644
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/150.out
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/150.out
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ QA output created by 150
 === Mapping sparse conversion ===
 
 Offset          Length          File
+0               0x1000          TEST_DIR/t.IMGFMT
 
 === Mapping non-sparse conversion ===
 
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/160 b/tests/qemu-iotests/160
index df89d3864b..ad2d054a47 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/160
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/160
@@ -57,6 +57,10 @@ for skip in $TEST_SKIP_BLOCKS; do
     $QEMU_IMG dd if="$TEST_IMG" of="$TEST_IMG.out" skip="$skip" -O "$IMGFMT" \
         2> /dev/null
     TEST_IMG="$TEST_IMG.out" _check_test_img
+
+    # We always write the first byte of an image.
+    printf "\0" > "$TEST_IMG.out.dd"
+
     dd if="$TEST_IMG" of="$TEST_IMG.out.dd" skip="$skip" status=none
 
     echo
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/175 b/tests/qemu-iotests/175
index 51e62c8276..c6a3a7bb1e 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/175
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/175
@@ -37,14 +37,16 @@ trap "_cleanup; exit \$status" 0 1 2 3 15
 # the file size.  This function hides the resulting difference in the
 # stat -c '%b' output.
 # Parameter 1: Number of blocks an empty file occupies
-# Parameter 2: Image size in bytes
+# Parameter 2: Minimal number of blocks in an image
+# Parameter 3: Image size in bytes
 _filter_blocks()
 {
     extra_blocks=$1
-    img_size=$2
+    min_blocks=$2
+    img_size=$3
 
-    sed -e "s/blocks=$extra_blocks\\(\$\\|[^0-9]\\)/nothing allocated/" \
-        -e "s/blocks=$((extra_blocks + img_size / 512))\\(\$\\|[^0-9]\\)/everything allocated/"
+    sed -e "s/blocks=$((extra_blocks + min_blocks))\\(\$\\|[^0-9]\\)/min allocation/" \
+        -e "s/blocks=$((extra_blocks + img_size / 512))\\(\$\\|[^0-9]\\)/max allocation/"
 }
 
 # get standard environment, filters and checks
@@ -60,16 +62,21 @@ size=$((1 * 1024 * 1024))
 touch "$TEST_DIR/empty"
 extra_blocks=$(stat -c '%b' "$TEST_DIR/empty")
 
+# We always write the first byte; check how many blocks this filesystem
+# allocates to match empty image alloation.
+printf "\0" > "$TEST_DIR/empty"
+min_blocks=$(stat -c '%b' "$TEST_DIR/empty")
+
 echo
 echo "== creating image with default preallocation =="
 _make_test_img $size | _filter_imgfmt
-stat -c "size=%s, blocks=%b" $TEST_IMG | _filter_blocks $extra_blocks $size
+stat -c "size=%s, blocks=%b" $TEST_IMG | _filter_blocks $extra_blocks $min_blocks $size
 
 for mode in off full falloc; do
     echo
     echo "== creating image with preallocation $mode =="
     IMGOPTS=preallocation=$mode _make_test_img $size | _filter_imgfmt
-    stat -c "size=%s, blocks=%b" $TEST_IMG | _filter_blocks $extra_blocks $size
+    stat -c "size=%s, blocks=%b" $TEST_IMG | _filter_blocks $extra_blocks $min_blocks $size
 done
 
 # success, all done
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/175.out b/tests/qemu-iotests/175.out
index 6d9a5ed84e..263e521262 100644
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/175.out
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/175.out
@@ -2,17 +2,17 @@ QA output created by 175
 
 == creating image with default preallocation ==
 Formatting 'TEST_DIR/t.IMGFMT', fmt=IMGFMT size=1048576
-size=1048576, nothing allocated
+size=1048576, min allocation
 
 == creating image with preallocation off ==
 Formatting 'TEST_DIR/t.IMGFMT', fmt=IMGFMT size=1048576 preallocation=off
-size=1048576, nothing allocated
+size=1048576, min allocation
 
 == creating image with preallocation full ==
 Formatting 'TEST_DIR/t.IMGFMT', fmt=IMGFMT size=1048576 preallocation=full
-size=1048576, everything allocated
+size=1048576, max allocation
 
 == creating image with preallocation falloc ==
 Formatting 'TEST_DIR/t.IMGFMT', fmt=IMGFMT size=1048576 preallocation=falloc
-size=1048576, everything allocated
+size=1048576, max allocation
  *** done
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/221.out b/tests/qemu-iotests/221.out
index 9f9dd52bb0..dca024a0c3 100644
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/221.out
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/221.out
@@ -3,14 +3,18 @@ QA output created by 221
 === Check mapping of unaligned raw image ===
 
 Formatting 'TEST_DIR/t.IMGFMT', fmt=IMGFMT size=65537
-[{ "start": 0, "length": 66048, "depth": 0, "zero": true, "data": false, "offset": OFFSET}]
-[{ "start": 0, "length": 66048, "depth": 0, "zero": true, "data": false, "offset": OFFSET}]
+[{ "start": 0, "length": 4096, "depth": 0, "zero": false, "data": true, "offset": OFFSET},
+{ "start": 4096, "length": 61952, "depth": 0, "zero": true, "data": false, "offset": OFFSET}]
+[{ "start": 0, "length": 4096, "depth": 0, "zero": false, "data": true, "offset": OFFSET},
+{ "start": 4096, "length": 61952, "depth": 0, "zero": true, "data": false, "offset": OFFSET}]
 wrote 1/1 bytes at offset 65536
 1 bytes, X ops; XX:XX:XX.X (XXX YYY/sec and XXX ops/sec)
-[{ "start": 0, "length": 65536, "depth": 0, "zero": true, "data": false, "offset": OFFSET},
+[{ "start": 0, "length": 4096, "depth": 0, "zero": false, "data": true, "offset": OFFSET},
+{ "start": 4096, "length": 61440, "depth": 0, "zero": true, "data": false, "offset": OFFSET},
 { "start": 65536, "length": 1, "depth": 0, "zero": false, "data": true, "offset": OFFSET},
 { "start": 65537, "length": 511, "depth": 0, "zero": true, "data": false, "offset": OFFSET}]
-[{ "start": 0, "length": 65536, "depth": 0, "zero": true, "data": false, "offset": OFFSET},
+[{ "start": 0, "length": 4096, "depth": 0, "zero": false, "data": true, "offset": OFFSET},
+{ "start": 4096, "length": 61440, "depth": 0, "zero": true, "data": false, "offset": OFFSET},
 { "start": 65536, "length": 1, "depth": 0, "zero": false, "data": true, "offset": OFFSET},
 { "start": 65537, "length": 511, "depth": 0, "zero": true, "data": false, "offset": OFFSET}]
 *** done
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/253.out b/tests/qemu-iotests/253.out
index 607c0baa0b..3d08b305d7 100644
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/253.out
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/253.out
@@ -3,12 +3,16 @@ QA output created by 253
 === Check mapping of unaligned raw image ===
 
 Formatting 'TEST_DIR/t.IMGFMT', fmt=IMGFMT size=1048575
-[{ "start": 0, "length": 1048576, "depth": 0, "zero": true, "data": false, "offset": OFFSET}]
-[{ "start": 0, "length": 1048576, "depth": 0, "zero": true, "data": false, "offset": OFFSET}]
+[{ "start": 0, "length": 4096, "depth": 0, "zero": false, "data": true, "offset": OFFSET},
+{ "start": 4096, "length": 1044480, "depth": 0, "zero": true, "data": false, "offset": OFFSET}]
+[{ "start": 0, "length": 4096, "depth": 0, "zero": false, "data": true, "offset": OFFSET},
+{ "start": 4096, "length": 1044480, "depth": 0, "zero": true, "data": false, "offset": OFFSET}]
 wrote 65535/65535 bytes at offset 983040
 63.999 KiB, X ops; XX:XX:XX.X (XXX YYY/sec and XXX ops/sec)
-[{ "start": 0, "length": 983040, "depth": 0, "zero": true, "data": false, "offset": OFFSET},
+[{ "start": 0, "length": 4096, "depth": 0, "zero": false, "data": true, "offset": OFFSET},
+{ "start": 4096, "length": 978944, "depth": 0, "zero": true, "data": false, "offset": OFFSET},
 { "start": 983040, "length": 65536, "depth": 0, "zero": false, "data": true, "offset": OFFSET}]
-[{ "start": 0, "length": 983040, "depth": 0, "zero": true, "data": false, "offset": OFFSET},
+[{ "start": 0, "length": 4096, "depth": 0, "zero": false, "data": true, "offset": OFFSET},
+{ "start": 4096, "length": 978944, "depth": 0, "zero": true, "data": false, "offset": OFFSET},
 { "start": 983040, "length": 65536, "depth": 0, "zero": false, "data": true, "offset": OFFSET}]
 *** done
