diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index 824e6474e79..f6196af25e2 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -385,6 +385,9 @@ Release 2.3.0 - UNRELEASED
 
     HADOOP-10103. update commons-lang to 2.6 (Akira AJISAKA via stevel)
 
+    HADOOP-10111. Allow DU to be initialized with an initial value (Kihwal Lee
+    via jeagles)
+
   OPTIMIZATIONS
 
     HADOOP-9748. Reduce blocking on UGI.ensureInitialized (daryn)
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/DU.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/DU.java
index 3fa55100368..5a4f52648b6 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/DU.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/DU.java
@@ -47,17 +47,32 @@ public class DU extends Shell {
    * @throws IOException if we fail to refresh the disk usage
    */
   public DU(File path, long interval) throws IOException {
+    this(path, interval, -1L);
+  }
+  
+  /**
+   * Keeps track of disk usage.
+   * @param path the path to check disk usage in
+   * @param interval refresh the disk usage at this interval
+   * @param initialUsed use this value until next refresh
+   * @throws IOException if we fail to refresh the disk usage
+   */
+  public DU(File path, long interval, long initialUsed) throws IOException { 
     super(0);
-    
+
     //we set the Shell interval to 0 so it will always run our command
     //and use this one to set the thread sleep interval
     this.refreshInterval = interval;
     this.dirPath = path.getCanonicalPath();
-    
-    //populate the used variable
-    run();
+
+    //populate the used variable if the initial value is not specified.
+    if (initialUsed < 0) {
+      run();
+    } else {
+      this.used.set(initialUsed);
+    }
   }
-  
+
   /**
    * Keeps track of disk usage.
    * @param path the path to check disk usage in
@@ -65,10 +80,24 @@ public class DU extends Shell {
    * @throws IOException if we fail to refresh the disk usage
    */
   public DU(File path, Configuration conf) throws IOException {
-    this(path, conf.getLong(CommonConfigurationKeys.FS_DU_INTERVAL_KEY,
-                CommonConfigurationKeys.FS_DU_INTERVAL_DEFAULT));
+    this(path, conf, -1L);
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Keeps track of disk usage.
+   * @param path the path to check disk usage in
+   * @param conf configuration object
+   * @param initialUsed use it until the next refresh.
+   * @throws IOException if we fail to refresh the disk usage
+   */
+  public DU(File path, Configuration conf, long initialUsed)
+      throws IOException {
+    this(path, conf.getLong(CommonConfigurationKeys.FS_DU_INTERVAL_KEY,
+                CommonConfigurationKeys.FS_DU_INTERVAL_DEFAULT), initialUsed);
+  }
+    
+  
+
   /**
    * This thread refreshes the "used" variable.
    * 
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/TestDU.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/TestDU.java
index ef59b85bd34..3add2a70b16 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/TestDU.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/TestDU.java
@@ -116,4 +116,19 @@ public class TestDU extends TestCase {
     long duSize = du.getUsed();
     assertTrue(String.valueOf(duSize), duSize >= 0L);
   }
+
+  public void testDUSetInitialValue() throws IOException {
+    File file = new File(DU_DIR, "dataX");
+    createFile(file, 8192);
+    DU du = new DU(file, 3000, 1024);
+    du.start();
+    assertTrue("Initial usage setting not honored", du.getUsed() == 1024);
+
+    // wait until the first du runs.
+    try {
+      Thread.sleep(5000);
+    } catch (InterruptedException ie) {}
+
+    assertTrue("Usage didn't get updated", du.getUsed() == 8192);
+  }
 }