diff --git a/drivers/scsi/sata_sil.c b/drivers/scsi/sata_sil.c
index b017f85e6d6a..17f74d3c10e7 100644
--- a/drivers/scsi/sata_sil.c
+++ b/drivers/scsi/sata_sil.c
@@ -231,6 +231,10 @@ MODULE_LICENSE("GPL");
 MODULE_DEVICE_TABLE(pci, sil_pci_tbl);
 MODULE_VERSION(DRV_VERSION);
 
+static int slow_down = 0;
+module_param(slow_down, int, 0444);
+MODULE_PARM_DESC(slow_down, "Sledgehammer used to work around random problems, by limiting commands to 15 sectors (0=off, 1=on)");
+
 
 static unsigned char sil_get_device_cache_line(struct pci_dev *pdev)
 {
@@ -354,8 +358,10 @@ static void sil_dev_config(struct ata_port *ap, struct ata_device *dev)
 		}
 
 	/* limit requests to 15 sectors */
-	if ((ap->flags & SIL_FLAG_MOD15WRITE) && (quirks & SIL_QUIRK_MOD15WRITE)) {
-		printk(KERN_INFO "ata%u(%u): applying Seagate errata fix\n",
+	if (slow_down ||
+	    ((ap->flags & SIL_FLAG_MOD15WRITE) &&
+	     (quirks & SIL_QUIRK_MOD15WRITE))) {
+		printk(KERN_INFO "ata%u(%u): applying Seagate errata fix (mod15write workaround)\n",
 		       ap->id, dev->devno);
 		ap->host->max_sectors = 15;
 		ap->host->hostt->max_sectors = 15;