diff --git a/usr/share/rear/conf/default.conf b/usr/share/rear/conf/default.conf

index 3be1552..b392d6d 100644

--- a/usr/share/rear/conf/default.conf

+++ b/usr/share/rear/conf/default.conf

@@ -409,6 +409,16 @@ PXE_REMOVE_OLD_LINKS=

 # Default is empty which means prompting what to do next and after a timeout boot next option defined by BIOS

 PXE_RECOVER_MODE=

+# Certain operation might need longer time to kick in and more retries might be desirable.

+# REAR_SLEEP_DELAY (in sec.) is general delay for operation.

+REAR_SLEEP_DELAY=1

+# REAR_MAX_RETRIES is maximum number of attempts that should be executed before operation is aborted.

+# Maximum timeout for operation calculates as REAR_SLEEP_DELAY * REAR_MAX_RETRIES

+# This retries / timeout operation is currently implemented only in get_disk_size (),

+# so if you have trouble with error messages like:

+# 'Could not determine size of disk <device> ...' tweaking of REAR_SLEEP_DELAY and REAR_MAX_RETRIES might help.

+REAR_MAX_RETRIES=5

+

 ##

 # internal BACKUP stuff

 ##

diff --git a/usr/share/rear/lib/layout-functions.sh b/usr/share/rear/lib/layout-functions.sh

index 75a59bb..052a752 100644

--- a/usr/share/rear/lib/layout-functions.sh

+++ b/usr/share/rear/lib/layout-functions.sh

@@ -530,8 +530,7 @@ get_disk_size() {

     local block_size=$(get_block_size ${disk_name%/*})

-    [ -r /sys/block/$disk_name/size ]

-    BugIfError "Could not determine size of disk $disk_name, please file a bug."

+    retry_command test -r /sys/block/$disk_name/size || Error "Could not determine size of disk $disk_name"

     local nr_blocks=$( < /sys/block/$disk_name/size)

     local disk_size=$(( nr_blocks * block_size ))

@@ -586,3 +585,25 @@ is_disk_a_pv() {

         return 1

     fi

 }

+

+# retry_command () is binded with REAR_SLEEP_DELAY and REAR_MAX_RETRIES.

+# This function will do maximum of REAR_MAX_RETRIES command execution

+# and will sleep REAR_SLEEP_DELAY after each unsuccessful command execution.

+# It outputs command stdout if succeeded or returns 1 on failure.

+retry_command ()

+{

+    local retry=0

+

+    until command_stdout=$(eval "$@"); do

+        sleep $REAR_SLEEP_DELAY

+

+        let retry++

+

+        if (( retry >= REAR_MAX_RETRIES )) ; then

+            Log "retry_command '$*' failed"

+            return 1

+        fi

+    done

+    # Have no additional trailing newline for the command stdout:

+    echo -n "$command_stdout"

+}