diff --git a/doc/source/admin_guide.rst b/doc/source/admin_guide.rst
index b58d3a32ea..f822b923d1 100644
--- a/doc/source/admin_guide.rst
+++ b/doc/source/admin_guide.rst
@@ -154,6 +154,10 @@ until it has been resolved.  If the drive is going to be replaced immediately,
 then it is just best to replace the drive, format it, remount it, and let
 replication fill it up.
 
+After the drive is unmounted, make sure the mount point is owned by root
+(root:root 755). This ensures that rsync will not try to replicate into the
+root drive once the failed drive is unmounted.
+
 If the drive can't be replaced immediately, then it is best to leave it
 unmounted, and set the device weight to 0. This will allow all the
 replicas that were on that drive to be replicated elsewhere until the drive
diff --git a/doc/source/deployment_guide.rst b/doc/source/deployment_guide.rst
index 8ecd6a114c..da9d0b4fa2 100644
--- a/doc/source/deployment_guide.rst
+++ b/doc/source/deployment_guide.rst
@@ -1246,6 +1246,10 @@ For a standard swift install, all data drives are mounted directly under
 be sure to set the `devices` config option in all of the server configs to
 point to the correct directory.
 
+The mount points for each drive in /srv/node/ should be owned by the root user
+almost exclusively (root:root 755). This is required to prevent rsync from
+syncing files into the root drive in the event a drive is unmounted.
+
 Swift uses system calls to reserve space for new objects being written into
 the system. If your filesystem does not support `fallocate()` or
 `posix_fallocate()`, be sure to set the `disable_fallocate = true` config
diff --git a/doc/source/development_saio.rst b/doc/source/development_saio.rst
index 1e6825f661..e406fb02ef 100644
--- a/doc/source/development_saio.rst
+++ b/doc/source/development_saio.rst
@@ -95,6 +95,16 @@ another device when creating the VM, and follow these instructions:
         # **Make sure to include the trailing slash after /srv/$x/**
         for x in {1..4}; do sudo chown -R ${USER}:${USER} /srv/$x/; done
 
+     Note: We create the mount points and mount the storage disk under
+     /mnt/sdb1. This disk will contain one directory per simulated swift node,
+     each owned by the current swift user.
+
+     We then create symlinks to these directories under /srv.
+     If the disk sdb is unmounted, files will not be written under
+     /srv/\*, because the symbolic link destination /mnt/sdb1/* will not
+     exist. This prevents disk sync operations from writing to the root
+     partition in the event a drive is unmounted.
+
   #. Next, skip to :ref:`common-dev-section`.
 
 
@@ -135,6 +145,15 @@ these instructions:
         # **Make sure to include the trailing slash after /srv/$x/**
         for x in {1..4}; do sudo chown -R ${USER}:${USER} /srv/$x/; done
 
+     Note: We create the mount points and mount the loopback file under
+     /mnt/sdb1. This file will contain one directory per simulated swift node,
+     each owned by the current swift user.
+
+     We then create symlinks to these directories under /srv.
+     If the loopback file is unmounted, files will not be written under
+     /srv/\*, because the symbolic link destination /mnt/sdb1/* will not
+     exist. This prevents disk sync operations from writing to the root
+     partition in the event a drive is unmounted.
 
 .. _common-dev-section: