diff --git a/userspace/marsadm b/userspace/marsadm
index 7c20d05c..c9366c05 100755
--- a/userspace/marsadm
+++ b/userspace/marsadm
@@ -3251,6 +3251,8 @@ sub check_sizes {
   my ($res, $peer) = @_;
   my $physical_size = get_link("$mars/resource-$res/actsize-$peer", 2) || return;
   my $logical_size = get_link("$mars/resource-$res/size", 1);
+  $physical_size = 0 if $physical_size eq "";
+  $logical_size = 0 if $logical_size eq "";
   if (defined($physical_size) && $physical_size < $logical_size) {
     lwarn "Physical device on host '$peer' has size $physical_size, which is smaller than the logical resource size $logical_size\n";
     ldie "This is too dangerous. It cannot work. Fix it!\n" unless $force;