diff -up parted-1.9.0/libparted/arch/linux.c~ parted-1.9.0/libparted/arch/linux.c
--- parted-1.9.0/libparted/arch/linux.c~	2009-08-27 11:23:59.000000000 +0200
+++ parted-1.9.0/libparted/arch/linux.c	2009-08-27 14:28:47.000000000 +0200
@@ -586,6 +586,19 @@ _get_linux_version ()
         return kver = KERNEL_VERSION (major, minor, teeny);
 }
 
+static int
+_have_kern26 ()
+{
+        static int have_kern26 = -1;
+        int kver;
+
+        if (have_kern26 != -1)
+                return have_kern26;
+
+        kver = _get_linux_version();
+        return have_kern26 = kver >= KERNEL_VERSION (2,6,0) ? 1 : 0;
+}
+  
 static void
 _device_set_sector_size (PedDevice* dev)
 {
@@ -1354,8 +1367,8 @@ linux_is_busy (PedDevice* dev)
         return 0;
 }
 
-/* we need to flush the master device, and all the partition devices,
- * because there is no coherency between the caches.
+/* we need to flush the master device, and with kernel < 2.6 all the partition
+ * devices, because there is no coherency between the caches with old kernels.
  * We should only flush unmounted partition devices, because:
  *  - there is never a need to flush them (we're not doing IO there)
  *  - flushing a device that is mounted causes unnecessary IO, and can
@@ -1373,21 +1386,23 @@ _flush_cache (PedDevice* dev)
 
         ioctl (arch_specific->fd, BLKFLSBUF);
 
-        for (i = 1; i < 16; i++) {
-                char*           name;
-                int             fd;
+        if (!_have_kern26()) {
+                for (i = 1; i < 16; i++) {
+                        char*           name;
+                        int             fd;
 
-                name = _device_get_part_path (dev, i);
-                if (!name)
-                        break;
-                if (!_partition_is_mounted_by_path (name)) {
-                        fd = open (name, WR_MODE, 0);
-                        if (fd > 0) {
-                                ioctl (fd, BLKFLSBUF);
-                                close (fd);
+                        name = _device_get_part_path (dev, i);
+                        if (!name)
+                                break;
+                        if (!_partition_is_mounted_by_path (name)) {
+                                fd = open (name, WR_MODE, 0);
+                                if (fd > 0) {
+                                        ioctl (fd, BLKFLSBUF);
+                                        close (fd);
+                                }
                         }
+                        free (name);
                 }
-                free (name);
         }
 }
 
@@ -1428,7 +1443,9 @@ retry:
                 dev->read_only = 0;
         }
 
-        _flush_cache (dev);
+        /* With kernels < 2.6 flush cache for cache coherence issues */
+        if (!_have_kern26())
+                _flush_cache (dev);
 
         return 1;
 }