diff --git a/drivers/md/md.c b/drivers/md/md.c
index e4ba95f6cd59803c3403cb2ab0825843edb291b8..b01e458d31e94ce9eba98b9300366121de550619 100644
--- a/drivers/md/md.c
+++ b/drivers/md/md.c
@@ -8656,7 +8656,7 @@ void md_check_recovery(struct mddev *mddev)
 	if (mddev_trylock(mddev)) {
 		int spares = 0;
 
-		if (mddev->safemode == 1)
+		if (!mddev->external && mddev->safemode == 1)
 			mddev->safemode = 0;
 
 		if (mddev->ro) {