diff --git a/weed/server/volume_grpc_tail.go b/weed/server/volume_grpc_tail.go
index c3b66c5e7..2dde5b69c 100644
--- a/weed/server/volume_grpc_tail.go
+++ b/weed/server/volume_grpc_tail.go
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ func (vs *VolumeServer) VolumeTailReceiver(ctx context.Context, req *volume_serv
 	defer glog.V(1).Infof("receive tailing volume %d finished", v.Id)
 
 	return resp, operation.TailVolumeFromSource(req.SourceVolumeServer, vs.grpcDialOption, v.Id, req.SinceNs, int(req.IdleTimeoutSeconds), func(n *needle.Needle) error {
-		_, err := vs.store.WriteVolumeNeedle(v.Id, n)
+		_, err := vs.store.WriteVolumeNeedle(v.Id, n, false)
 		return err
 	})
 
diff --git a/weed/storage/store.go b/weed/storage/store.go
index d6b623e63..64e437add 100644
--- a/weed/storage/store.go
+++ b/weed/storage/store.go
@@ -252,7 +252,7 @@ func (s *Store) Close() {
 	}
 }
 
-func (s *Store) WriteVolumeNeedle(i needle.VolumeId, n *needle.Needle) (isUnchanged bool, err error) {
+func (s *Store) WriteVolumeNeedle(i needle.VolumeId, n *needle.Needle, fsync bool) (isUnchanged bool, err error) {
 	if v := s.findVolume(i); v != nil {
 		if v.IsReadOnly() {
 			err = fmt.Errorf("volume %d is read only", i)
@@ -260,7 +260,7 @@ func (s *Store) WriteVolumeNeedle(i needle.VolumeId, n *needle.Needle) (isUnchan
 		}
 		// using len(n.Data) here instead of n.Size before n.Size is populated in v.writeNeedle(n)
 		if MaxPossibleVolumeSize >= v.ContentSize()+uint64(needle.GetActualSize(uint32(len(n.Data)), v.Version())) {
-			_, _, isUnchanged, err = v.writeNeedle(n)
+			_, _, isUnchanged, err = v.writeNeedle(n, fsync)
 		} else {
 			err = fmt.Errorf("volume size limit %d exceeded! current size is %d", s.GetVolumeSizeLimit(), v.ContentSize())
 		}
diff --git a/weed/storage/volume_read_write.go b/weed/storage/volume_read_write.go
index ac6154cef..bb0421724 100644
--- a/weed/storage/volume_read_write.go
+++ b/weed/storage/volume_read_write.go
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ func (v *Volume) Destroy() (err error) {
 	return
 }
 
-func (v *Volume) writeNeedle(n *needle.Needle) (offset uint64, size uint32, isUnchanged bool, err error) {
+func (v *Volume) writeNeedle(n *needle.Needle, fsync bool) (offset uint64, size uint32, isUnchanged bool, err error) {
 	// glog.V(4).Infof("writing needle %s", needle.NewFileIdFromNeedle(v.Id, n).String())
 	v.dataFileAccessLock.Lock()
 	defer v.dataFileAccessLock.Unlock()
@@ -98,6 +98,11 @@ func (v *Volume) writeNeedle(n *needle.Needle) (offset uint64, size uint32, isUn
 	if offset, size, _, err = n.Append(v.DataBackend, v.Version()); err != nil {
 		return
 	}
+	if fsync {
+		if err = v.DataBackend.Sync(); err != nil {
+			return
+		}
+	}
 	v.lastAppendAtNs = n.AppendAtNs
 
 	// add to needle map
diff --git a/weed/storage/volume_vacuum_test.go b/weed/storage/volume_vacuum_test.go
index 51f04c8b1..5d0fcbe31 100644
--- a/weed/storage/volume_vacuum_test.go
+++ b/weed/storage/volume_vacuum_test.go
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ func TestCompaction(t *testing.T) {
 }
 func doSomeWritesDeletes(i int, v *Volume, t *testing.T, infos []*needleInfo) {
 	n := newRandomNeedle(uint64(i))
-	_, size, _, err := v.writeNeedle(n)
+	_, size, _, err := v.writeNeedle(n, false)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("write file %d: %v", i, err)
 	}
diff --git a/weed/topology/store_replicate.go b/weed/topology/store_replicate.go
index 6f043a601..236f8d773 100644
--- a/weed/topology/store_replicate.go
+++ b/weed/topology/store_replicate.go
@@ -22,8 +22,10 @@ func ReplicatedWrite(masterNode string, s *storage.Store, volumeId needle.Volume
 	//check JWT
 	jwt := security.GetJwt(r)
 
+	// check whether this is a replicated write request
 	var remoteLocations []operation.Location
 	if r.FormValue("type") != "replicate" {
+		// this is the initial request
 		remoteLocations, err = getWritableRemoteReplications(s, volumeId, masterNode)
 		if err != nil {
 			glog.V(0).Infoln(err)
@@ -31,8 +33,14 @@ func ReplicatedWrite(masterNode string, s *storage.Store, volumeId needle.Volume
 		}
 	}
 
+	// read fsync value
+	fsync := false
+	if r.FormValue("fsync") == "true" {
+		fsync = true
+	}
+
 	if s.GetVolume(volumeId) != nil {
-		isUnchanged, err = s.WriteVolumeNeedle(volumeId, n)
+		isUnchanged, err = s.WriteVolumeNeedle(volumeId, n, fsync)
 		if err != nil {
 			err = fmt.Errorf("failed to write to local disk: %v", err)
 			glog.V(0).Infoln(err)