diff --git a/fs/ext3/inode.c b/fs/ext3/inode.c
index b49908a167a..eb0b4e0d517 100644
--- a/fs/ext3/inode.c
+++ b/fs/ext3/inode.c
@@ -172,10 +172,21 @@ static int try_to_extend_transaction(handle_t *handle, struct inode *inode)
  * so before we call here everything must be consistently dirtied against
  * this transaction.
  */
-static int ext3_journal_test_restart(handle_t *handle, struct inode *inode)
+static int truncate_restart_transaction(handle_t *handle, struct inode *inode)
 {
+	int ret;
+
 	jbd_debug(2, "restarting handle %p\n", handle);
-	return ext3_journal_restart(handle, blocks_for_truncate(inode));
+	/*
+	 * Drop truncate_mutex to avoid deadlock with ext3_get_blocks_handle
+	 * At this moment, get_block can be called only for blocks inside
+	 * i_size since page cache has been already dropped and writes are
+	 * blocked by i_mutex. So we can safely drop the truncate_mutex.
+	 */
+	mutex_unlock(&EXT3_I(inode)->truncate_mutex);
+	ret = ext3_journal_restart(handle, blocks_for_truncate(inode));
+	mutex_lock(&EXT3_I(inode)->truncate_mutex);
+	return ret;
 }
 
 /*
@@ -2072,7 +2083,7 @@ static void ext3_clear_blocks(handle_t *handle, struct inode *inode,
 			ext3_journal_dirty_metadata(handle, bh);
 		}
 		ext3_mark_inode_dirty(handle, inode);
-		ext3_journal_test_restart(handle, inode);
+		truncate_restart_transaction(handle, inode);
 		if (bh) {
 			BUFFER_TRACE(bh, "retaking write access");
 			ext3_journal_get_write_access(handle, bh);
@@ -2282,7 +2293,7 @@ static void ext3_free_branches(handle_t *handle, struct inode *inode,
 				return;
 			if (try_to_extend_transaction(handle, inode)) {
 				ext3_mark_inode_dirty(handle, inode);
-				ext3_journal_test_restart(handle, inode);
+				truncate_restart_transaction(handle, inode);
 			}
 
 			ext3_free_blocks(handle, inode, nr, 1);