diff --git a/fs/nfs/inode.c b/fs/nfs/inode.c
index d722a0e84361..1d507a2a96d6 100644
--- a/fs/nfs/inode.c
+++ b/fs/nfs/inode.c
@@ -85,7 +85,6 @@ void nfs_clear_inode(struct inode *inode)
 	 */
 	BUG_ON(nfs_have_writebacks(inode));
 	BUG_ON(!list_empty(&NFS_I(inode)->open_files));
-	BUG_ON(atomic_read(&NFS_I(inode)->data_updates) != 0);
 	nfs_zap_acl_cache(inode);
 	nfs_access_zap_cache(inode);
 }
@@ -756,16 +755,6 @@ int nfs_revalidate_mapping(struct inode *inode, struct address_space *mapping)
 	return ret;
 }
 
-/**
- * nfs_begin_data_update
- * @inode - pointer to inode
- * Declare that a set of operations will update file data on the server
- */
-void nfs_begin_data_update(struct inode *inode)
-{
-	atomic_inc(&NFS_I(inode)->data_updates);
-}
-
 /**
  * nfs_end_data_update
  * @inode - pointer to inode
@@ -775,15 +764,12 @@ void nfs_begin_data_update(struct inode *inode)
  */
 void nfs_end_data_update(struct inode *inode)
 {
-	struct nfs_inode *nfsi = NFS_I(inode);
-
 	/* Directories: invalidate page cache */
 	if (S_ISDIR(inode->i_mode)) {
 		spin_lock(&inode->i_lock);
-		nfsi->cache_validity |= NFS_INO_INVALID_DATA;
+		NFS_I(inode)->cache_validity |= NFS_INO_INVALID_DATA;
 		spin_unlock(&inode->i_lock);
 	}
-	atomic_dec(&nfsi->data_updates);
 }
 
 static void nfs_wcc_update_inode(struct inode *inode, struct nfs_fattr *fattr)
@@ -823,7 +809,6 @@ static int nfs_check_inode_attributes(struct inode *inode, struct nfs_fattr *fat
 {
 	struct nfs_inode *nfsi = NFS_I(inode);
 	loff_t cur_size, new_isize;
-	int data_unstable;
 
 
 	/* Has the inode gone and changed behind our back? */
@@ -832,9 +817,6 @@ static int nfs_check_inode_attributes(struct inode *inode, struct nfs_fattr *fat
 		return -EIO;
 	}
 
-	/* Are we in the process of updating data on the server? */
-	data_unstable = nfs_caches_unstable(inode);
-
 	/* Do atomic weak cache consistency updates */
 	nfs_wcc_update_inode(inode, fattr);
 
@@ -1162,7 +1144,6 @@ static void init_once(void * foo, struct kmem_cache * cachep, unsigned long flag
 	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&nfsi->access_cache_entry_lru);
 	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&nfsi->access_cache_inode_lru);
 	INIT_RADIX_TREE(&nfsi->nfs_page_tree, GFP_ATOMIC);
-	atomic_set(&nfsi->data_updates, 0);
 	nfsi->ncommit = 0;
 	nfsi->npages = 0;
 	nfs4_init_once(nfsi);
diff --git a/include/linux/nfs_fs.h b/include/linux/nfs_fs.h
index c947803a7ba4..1b4edc6f7fd7 100644
--- a/include/linux/nfs_fs.h
+++ b/include/linux/nfs_fs.h
@@ -136,11 +136,6 @@ struct nfs_inode {
 	 * server.
 	 */
 	unsigned long		cache_change_attribute;
-	/*
-	 * Counter indicating the number of outstanding requests that
-	 * will cause a file data update.
-	 */
-	atomic_t		data_updates;
 
 	struct rb_root		access_cache;
 	struct list_head	access_cache_entry_lru;
@@ -224,9 +219,13 @@ static inline struct nfs_inode *NFS_I(struct inode *inode)
 
 #define NFS_FILEID(inode)		(NFS_I(inode)->fileid)
 
-static inline int nfs_caches_unstable(struct inode *inode)
+/**
+ * nfs_begin_data_update
+ * @inode - pointer to inode
+ * Declare that a set of operations will update file data on the server
+ */
+static inline void nfs_begin_data_update(struct inode *inode)
 {
-	return atomic_read(&NFS_I(inode)->data_updates) != 0;
 }
 
 static inline void nfs_mark_for_revalidate(struct inode *inode)
@@ -299,7 +298,6 @@ extern int nfs_setattr(struct dentry *, struct iattr *);
 extern void nfs_setattr_update_inode(struct inode *inode, struct iattr *attr);
 extern void nfs_begin_attr_update(struct inode *);
 extern void nfs_end_attr_update(struct inode *);
-extern void nfs_begin_data_update(struct inode *);
 extern void nfs_end_data_update(struct inode *);
 extern struct nfs_open_context *get_nfs_open_context(struct nfs_open_context *ctx);
 extern void put_nfs_open_context(struct nfs_open_context *ctx);