diff --git a/manila/share/drivers/generic.py b/manila/share/drivers/generic.py
index e4a7639a91..98aeb50450 100644
--- a/manila/share/drivers/generic.py
+++ b/manila/share/drivers/generic.py
@@ -250,8 +250,15 @@ class GenericShareDriver(driver.ExecuteMixin, driver.ShareDriver):
             },
         }
 
+    @utils.retry(exception.ProcessExecutionError, backoff_rate=1)
+    def _is_device_file_available(self, server_details, volume):
+        """Checks whether the device file is available"""
+        command = ['sudo', 'test', '-b', volume['mountpoint']]
+        self._ssh_exec(server_details, command)
+
     def _format_device(self, server_details, volume):
         """Formats device attached to the service vm."""
+        self._is_device_file_available(server_details, volume)
         command = ['sudo', 'mkfs.%s' % self.configuration.share_volume_fstype,
                    volume['mountpoint']]
         self._ssh_exec(server_details, command)
diff --git a/manila/tests/share/drivers/test_generic.py b/manila/tests/share/drivers/test_generic.py
index cc48f7ba61..23efbf7ff0 100644
--- a/manila/tests/share/drivers/test_generic.py
+++ b/manila/tests/share/drivers/test_generic.py
@@ -369,11 +369,26 @@ class GenericShareDriverTestCase(test.TestCase):
         self.assertRaises(exception.InvalidShare, self._driver.create_share,
                           self._context, self.share, share_server=self.server)
 
+    def test_is_device_file_available(self):
+        volume = {'mountpoint': 'fake_mount_point'}
+        self.mock_object(self._driver, '_ssh_exec',
+                         mock.Mock(return_value=None))
+
+        self._driver._is_device_file_available(self.server, volume)
+
+        self._driver._ssh_exec.assert_called_once_with(
+            self.server, ['sudo', 'test', '-b', volume['mountpoint']])
+
     def test_format_device(self):
         volume = {'mountpoint': 'fake_mount_point'}
         self.mock_object(self._driver, '_ssh_exec',
                          mock.Mock(return_value=('', '')))
+        self.mock_object(self._driver, '_is_device_file_available')
+
         self._driver._format_device(self.server, volume)
+
+        self._driver._is_device_file_available.assert_called_once_with(
+            self.server, volume)
         self._driver._ssh_exec.assert_called_once_with(
             self.server,
             ['sudo', 'mkfs.%s' % self.fake_conf.share_volume_fstype,