diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/local/LocalIndexShardGateway.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/local/LocalIndexShardGateway.java
index 3d15843186b..aef2550bd1c 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/local/LocalIndexShardGateway.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/local/LocalIndexShardGateway.java
@@ -23,24 +23,27 @@ import org.apache.lucene.index.IndexReader;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.Inject;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.InputStreamStreamInput;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
-import org.elasticsearch.gateway.none.NoneGateway;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.TimeValue;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.gateway.IndexShardGateway;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.gateway.IndexShardGatewayRecoveryException;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.gateway.RecoveryStatus;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.gateway.SnapshotStatus;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.settings.IndexSettings;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.shard.AbstractIndexShardComponent;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.shard.IndexShardState;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.shard.ShardId;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.shard.service.IndexShard;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.shard.service.InternalIndexShard;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.translog.Translog;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.translog.TranslogStreams;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.translog.fs.FsTranslog;
+import org.elasticsearch.threadpool.ThreadPool;
 
 import java.io.EOFException;
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileInputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.concurrent.ScheduledFuture;
 
 /**
  * @author kimchy (shay.banon)
@@ -51,9 +54,22 @@ public class LocalIndexShardGateway extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implemen
 
     private final RecoveryStatus recoveryStatus = new RecoveryStatus();
 
-    @Inject public LocalIndexShardGateway(ShardId shardId, @IndexSettings Settings indexSettings, IndexShard indexShard) {
+    private final ScheduledFuture flushScheduler;
+
+    @Inject public LocalIndexShardGateway(ShardId shardId, @IndexSettings Settings indexSettings, ThreadPool threadPool, IndexShard indexShard) {
         super(shardId, indexSettings);
         this.indexShard = (InternalIndexShard) indexShard;
+
+        TimeValue sync = componentSettings.getAsTime("sync", TimeValue.timeValueSeconds(1));
+        if (sync.millis() > 0) {
+            this.indexShard.translog().syncOnEachOperation(false);
+            flushScheduler = threadPool.scheduleWithFixedDelay(new Sync(), sync);
+        } else if (sync.millis() == 0) {
+            flushScheduler = null;
+            this.indexShard.translog().syncOnEachOperation(true);
+        } else {
+            flushScheduler = null;
+        }
     }
 
     @Override public String toString() {
@@ -132,7 +148,7 @@ public class LocalIndexShardGateway extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implemen
     }
 
     @Override public String type() {
-        return NoneGateway.TYPE;
+        return "local";
     }
 
     @Override public SnapshotStatus snapshot(Snapshot snapshot) {
@@ -152,5 +168,16 @@ public class LocalIndexShardGateway extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implemen
     }
 
     @Override public void close(boolean delete) {
+        if (flushScheduler != null) {
+            flushScheduler.cancel(false);
+        }
+    }
+
+    private class Sync implements Runnable {
+        @Override public void run() {
+            if (indexShard.state() == IndexShardState.STARTED) {
+                indexShard.translog().sync();
+            }
+        }
     }
 }
diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/translog/Translog.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/translog/Translog.java
index b5fab93ae4b..c29ff20cb2d 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/translog/Translog.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/translog/Translog.java
@@ -88,9 +88,11 @@ public interface Translog extends IndexShardComponent {
     Snapshot snapshot(Snapshot snapshot);
 
     /**
-     * Flushes the translog.
+     * Sync's the translog.
      */
-    void flush();
+    void sync();
+
+    void syncOnEachOperation(boolean syncOnEachOperation);
 
     /**
      * Closes the transaction log.
diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/translog/fs/FsTranslog.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/translog/fs/FsTranslog.java
index 74cdc79725c..0a294eb5799 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/translog/fs/FsTranslog.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/translog/fs/FsTranslog.java
@@ -48,6 +48,8 @@ public class FsTranslog extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implements Translog
 
     private final Object mutex = new Object();
 
+    private boolean syncOnEachOperation = false;
+
     private volatile long id = 0;
 
     private final AtomicInteger operationCounter = new AtomicInteger();
@@ -140,6 +142,9 @@ public class FsTranslog extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implements Translog
 
             synchronized (mutex) {
                 raf.raf().write(out.unsafeByteArray(), 0, size);
+                if (syncOnEachOperation) {
+                    sync();
+                }
                 lastPosition += size;
                 operationCounter.incrementAndGet();
             }
@@ -185,7 +190,7 @@ public class FsTranslog extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implements Translog
         }
     }
 
-    @Override public void flush() {
+    @Override public void sync() {
         synchronized (mutex) {
             if (raf != null) {
                 try {
@@ -197,6 +202,12 @@ public class FsTranslog extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implements Translog
         }
     }
 
+    @Override public void syncOnEachOperation(boolean syncOnEachOperation) {
+        synchronized (mutex) {
+            this.syncOnEachOperation = syncOnEachOperation;
+        }
+    }
+
     @Override public void close(boolean delete) {
         synchronized (mutex) {
             if (raf != null) {