diff --git a/fs/bcachefs/alloc_background.c b/fs/bcachefs/alloc_background.c
index eac82c9880ba..b9b97cbda177 100644
--- a/fs/bcachefs/alloc_background.c
+++ b/fs/bcachefs/alloc_background.c
@@ -1068,6 +1068,12 @@ static int discard_invalidated_buckets(struct bch_fs *c, struct bch_dev *ca)
 	return 0;
 }
 
+static inline bool allocator_thread_running(struct bch_dev *ca)
+{
+	return ca->mi.state == BCH_MEMBER_STATE_RW &&
+		test_bit(BCH_FS_ALLOCATOR_RUNNING, &ca->fs->flags);
+}
+
 /**
  * bch_allocator_thread - move buckets from free_inc to reserves
  *
@@ -1084,9 +1090,16 @@ static int bch2_allocator_thread(void *arg)
 	int ret;
 
 	set_freezable();
-	ca->allocator_state = ALLOCATOR_RUNNING;
 
 	while (1) {
+		if (!allocator_thread_running(ca)) {
+			ca->allocator_state = ALLOCATOR_STOPPED;
+			if (kthread_wait_freezable(allocator_thread_running(ca)))
+				break;
+		}
+
+		ca->allocator_state = ALLOCATOR_RUNNING;
+
 		cond_resched();
 		if (kthread_should_stop())
 			break;
diff --git a/fs/bcachefs/super.c b/fs/bcachefs/super.c
index e10e7e0c0454..224c21c3f9f7 100644
--- a/fs/bcachefs/super.c
+++ b/fs/bcachefs/super.c
@@ -431,6 +431,9 @@ static int __bch2_fs_read_write(struct bch_fs *c, bool early)
 
 	set_bit(BCH_FS_ALLOCATOR_RUNNING, &c->flags);
 
+	for_each_rw_member(ca, c, i)
+		bch2_wake_allocator(ca);
+
 	ret = bch2_journal_reclaim_start(&c->journal);
 	if (ret) {
 		bch_err(c, "error starting journal reclaim: %i", ret);
@@ -1008,6 +1011,8 @@ static void bch2_dev_release(struct kobject *kobj)
 
 static void bch2_dev_free(struct bch_dev *ca)
 {
+	bch2_dev_allocator_stop(ca);
+
 	cancel_work_sync(&ca->io_error_work);
 
 	if (ca->kobj.state_in_sysfs &&
@@ -1172,6 +1177,12 @@ static int bch2_dev_alloc(struct bch_fs *c, unsigned dev_idx)
 	if (!ca)
 		goto err;
 
+	if (ca->mi.state == BCH_MEMBER_STATE_RW &&
+	    bch2_dev_allocator_start(ca)) {
+		bch2_dev_free(ca);
+		goto err;
+	}
+
 	bch2_dev_attach(c, ca, dev_idx);
 out:
 	pr_verbose_init(c->opts, "ret %i", ret);