diff --git a/scripts/blockdev-perftest b/scripts/blockdev-perftest
index 08e434ed9..65cdf3167 100755
--- a/scripts/blockdev-perftest
+++ b/scripts/blockdev-perftest
@@ -27,13 +27,14 @@
 #########################
 
 usage() {
-  echo "Usage: $0 [-a] [-d] [-i <i>] [-n] [-r] [-s <l2s>] <dev>"
+  echo "Usage: $0 [-a] [-d] [-i <i>] [-n] [-r] [-s <l2s>] [-t [user@]host] <dev>"
   echo "        -a - use asynchronous (buffered) I/O."
   echo "        -d - use direct (non-buffered) I/O."
   echo "        -i - number times each test is iterated."
   echo "        -n - do not verify the data on <dev> before overwriting it."
   echo "        -r - only perform the read test."
   echo "        -s - logarithm base two of the I/O size."
+  echo "        -t - username and hostname of the target to drop the caches on."
   echo "        <dev> - block device to run the I/O performance test on."
 }
 
@@ -51,6 +52,9 @@ drop_caches() {
   if [ -w /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches ]; then
     echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches
   fi
+  if [ "${target_login}" != "" ]; then
+    ssh -n ${target_login} 'sync; if [ -w /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches ]; then echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches; fi'
+  fi
 }
 
 # Read times in seconds from stdin, one number per line, echo each number
@@ -71,6 +75,7 @@ log2_min_blocksize=9  # 512 bytes
 log2_max_blocksize=26 # 64 MB
 iotype=direct
 read_test_only=false
+target_login=""
 verify_device_data=true
 
 
@@ -78,7 +83,7 @@ verify_device_data=true
 # Argument processing   #
 #########################
 
-set -- $(/usr/bin/getopt "adhi:nrs:" "$@")
+set -- $(/usr/bin/getopt "adhi:nrs:t:" "$@")
 while [ "$1" != "${1#-}" ]
 do
   case "$1" in
@@ -88,6 +93,7 @@ do
     '-n') verify_device_data="false"; shift;;
     '-r') read_test_only="true"; shift;;
     '-s') log2_io_size="$2"; shift; shift;;
+    '-t') target_login="$2"; shift; shift;;
     '--') shift;;
     *)    usage; exit 1;;
   esac
@@ -123,7 +129,7 @@ then
 fi
 
 if [ "${iotype}" = "direct" ]; then
-  dd_oflags="oflag=direct"
+  dd_oflags="oflag=direct conv=notrunc"
   dd_iflags="iflag=direct"
 else
   dd_oflags="oflag=sync"