diff --git a/sys/dev/md/md.c b/sys/dev/md/md.c
--- a/sys/dev/md/md.c
+++ b/sys/dev/md/md.c
@@ -875,7 +875,7 @@
 	struct buf *pb;
 	bus_dma_segment_t *vlist;
 	struct thread *td;
-	off_t iolen, iostart, len, zerosize;
+	off_t iolen, iostart, off, len;
 	int ma_offs, npages;
 
 	switch (bp->bio_cmd) {
@@ -883,9 +883,9 @@
 		auio.uio_rw = UIO_READ;
 		break;
 	case BIO_WRITE:
-	case BIO_DELETE:
 		auio.uio_rw = UIO_WRITE;
 		break;
+	case BIO_DELETE:
 	case BIO_FLUSH:
 		break;
 	default:
@@ -897,6 +897,7 @@
 	pb = NULL;
 	piov = NULL;
 	ma_offs = bp->bio_ma_offset;
+	off = bp->bio_offset;
 	len = bp->bio_length;
 
 	/*
@@ -914,6 +915,11 @@
 		VOP_UNLOCK(vp);
 		vn_finished_write(mp);
 		return (error);
+	} else if (bp->bio_cmd == BIO_DELETE) {
+		error = vn_deallocate(vp, &off, &len, 0,
+		    sc->flags & MD_ASYNC ? 0 : IO_SYNC, sc->cred, NOCRED);
+		bp->bio_resid = len;
+		return (error);
 	}
 
 	auio.uio_offset = (vm_ooffset_t)bp->bio_offset;
@@ -921,25 +927,7 @@
 	auio.uio_segflg = UIO_SYSSPACE;
 	auio.uio_td = td;
 
-	if (bp->bio_cmd == BIO_DELETE) {
-		/*
-		 * Emulate BIO_DELETE by writing zeros.
-		 */
-		zerosize = ZERO_REGION_SIZE -
-		    (ZERO_REGION_SIZE % sc->sectorsize);
-		auio.uio_iovcnt = howmany(bp->bio_length, zerosize);
-		piov = malloc(sizeof(*piov) * auio.uio_iovcnt, M_MD, M_WAITOK);
-		auio.uio_iov = piov;
-		while (len > 0) {
-			piov->iov_base = __DECONST(void *, zero_region);
-			piov->iov_len = len;
-			if (len > zerosize)
-				piov->iov_len = zerosize;
-			len -= piov->iov_len;
-			piov++;
-		}
-		piov = auio.uio_iov;
-	} else if ((bp->bio_flags & BIO_VLIST) != 0) {
+	if ((bp->bio_flags & BIO_VLIST) != 0) {
 		piov = malloc(sizeof(*piov) * bp->bio_ma_n, M_MD, M_WAITOK);
 		auio.uio_iov = piov;
 		vlist = (bus_dma_segment_t *)bp->bio_data;