diff --git a/etc/defaults/rc.conf b/etc/defaults/rc.conf
index 2d2ce36d4acc..f2b05df776c7 100644
--- a/etc/defaults/rc.conf
+++ b/etc/defaults/rc.conf
@@ -318,6 +318,8 @@ sendmail_enable="NO"	# Run the sendmail inbound daemon (YES/NO).
 sendmail_flags="-bd -q30m" # Flags to sendmail (as a server)
 sendmail_outbound_enable="YES"	# Dequeue stuck mail (YES/NO).
 sendmail_outbound_flags="-q30m" # Flags to sendmail (outbound only)
+diskcheckd_enable="YES"	# Run diskcheckd(8) (YES/NO).
+diskcheckd_flags=""	# Flags to diskcheckd(8).
 dumpdev="NO"		# Device name to crashdump to (or NO).
 savecore_flags="" 	# Used if dumpdev is enabled above, and present.
 enable_quotas="NO"      # turn on quotas on startup (or NO).
diff --git a/etc/rc b/etc/rc
index 504890d58914..717a3395409d 100644
--- a/etc/rc
+++ b/etc/rc
@@ -465,6 +465,14 @@ case ${syslogd_enable} in
 	;;
 esac
 
+# Start disk checking daemon if required.
+#
+case ${diskcheckd_enable} in
+[Yy][Ee][Ss])
+	echo -n ' diskcheckd'; diskcheckd ${diskcheckd_flags}
+	;;
+esac
+
 echo '.'
 
 # Build device name databases if we are not using DEVFS