diff --git a/drivers/md/bcache/sysfs.c b/drivers/md/bcache/sysfs.c
index c524305cc9a7..4a6a697e1680 100644
--- a/drivers/md/bcache/sysfs.c
+++ b/drivers/md/bcache/sysfs.c
@@ -218,7 +218,9 @@ STORE(__cached_dev)
 	sysfs_strtoul_clamp(writeback_rate,
 			    dc->writeback_rate.rate, 1, INT_MAX);
 
-	d_strtoul_nonzero(writeback_rate_update_seconds);
+	sysfs_strtoul_clamp(writeback_rate_update_seconds,
+			    dc->writeback_rate_update_seconds,
+			    1, WRITEBACK_RATE_UPDATE_SECS_MAX);
 	d_strtoul(writeback_rate_i_term_inverse);
 	d_strtoul_nonzero(writeback_rate_p_term_inverse);
 
diff --git a/drivers/md/bcache/writeback.c b/drivers/md/bcache/writeback.c
index 58218f7e77c3..f1d2fc15abcc 100644
--- a/drivers/md/bcache/writeback.c
+++ b/drivers/md/bcache/writeback.c
@@ -655,7 +655,7 @@ void bch_cached_dev_writeback_init(struct cached_dev *dc)
 	dc->writeback_rate.rate		= 1024;
 	dc->writeback_rate_minimum	= 8;
 
-	dc->writeback_rate_update_seconds = 5;
+	dc->writeback_rate_update_seconds = WRITEBACK_RATE_UPDATE_SECS_DEFAULT;
 	dc->writeback_rate_p_term_inverse = 40;
 	dc->writeback_rate_i_term_inverse = 10000;
 
diff --git a/drivers/md/bcache/writeback.h b/drivers/md/bcache/writeback.h
index 66f1c527fa24..587b25599856 100644
--- a/drivers/md/bcache/writeback.h
+++ b/drivers/md/bcache/writeback.h
@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@
 #define MAX_WRITEBACKS_IN_PASS  5
 #define MAX_WRITESIZE_IN_PASS   5000	/* *512b */
 
+#define WRITEBACK_RATE_UPDATE_SECS_MAX		60
+#define WRITEBACK_RATE_UPDATE_SECS_DEFAULT	5
+
 /*
  * 14 (16384ths) is chosen here as something that each backing device
  * should be a reasonable fraction of the share, and not to blow up