diff --git a/WHATS_NEW b/WHATS_NEW
index 91367363c..b885df283 100644
--- a/WHATS_NEW
+++ b/WHATS_NEW
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 Version 2.02.73 - 
 ================================
+  Change default alignment of pe_start to 1MB.
   Add --norestorefile option to pvcreate.
   Require --restorefile when using pvcreate --uuid.
   Recognise and give preference to md device partitions (blkext major).
diff --git a/doc/example.conf.in b/doc/example.conf.in
index 73832d989..a107d2bfa 100644
--- a/doc/example.conf.in
+++ b/doc/example.conf.in
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ devices {
     # Alignment (in KB) of start of data area when creating a new PV.
     # If a PV is placed directly upon an md device and md_chunk_alignment or
     # data_alignment_detection is enabled this parameter is ignored.
-    # Set to 0 for the default alignment of 64KB or page size, if larger.
+    # Set to 0 for the default alignment of 1MB or page size, if larger.
     data_alignment = 0
 
     # By default, the start of the PV's aligned data area will be shifted by
diff --git a/lib/config/defaults.h b/lib/config/defaults.h
index dd9897da2..4a5feb28e 100644
--- a/lib/config/defaults.h
+++ b/lib/config/defaults.h
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@
 #ifndef _LVM_DEFAULTS_H
 #define _LVM_DEFAULTS_H
 
+#define DEFAULT_PE_ALIGN 2048
+
 #define DEFAULT_ARCHIVE_ENABLED 1
 #define DEFAULT_BACKUP_ENABLED 1
 
diff --git a/lib/metadata/metadata.c b/lib/metadata/metadata.c
index d7edf5407..6cd77937a 100644
--- a/lib/metadata/metadata.c
+++ b/lib/metadata/metadata.c
@@ -62,15 +62,23 @@ static uint32_t _vg_bad_status_bits(const struct volume_group *vg,
 const char _really_init[] =
     "Really INITIALIZE physical volume \"%s\" of volume group \"%s\" [y/n]? ";
 
+static int _alignment_overrides_default(unsigned long data_alignment)
+{
+	return data_alignment && (DEFAULT_PE_ALIGN % data_alignment);
+}
+
 unsigned long set_pe_align(struct physical_volume *pv, unsigned long data_alignment)
 {
+	unsigned long temp_pe_align;
+
 	if (pv->pe_align)
 		goto out;
 
 	if (data_alignment)
 		pv->pe_align = data_alignment;
 	else
-		pv->pe_align = MAX(65536UL, lvm_getpagesize()) >> SECTOR_SHIFT;
+		pv->pe_align = MAX((DEFAULT_PE_ALIGN << SECTOR_SHIFT),
+				   lvm_getpagesize()) >> SECTOR_SHIFT;
 
 	if (!pv->dev)
 		goto out;
@@ -79,10 +87,11 @@ unsigned long set_pe_align(struct physical_volume *pv, unsigned long data_alignm
 	 * Align to stripe-width of underlying md device if present
 	 */
 	if (find_config_tree_bool(pv->fmt->cmd, "devices/md_chunk_alignment",
-				  DEFAULT_MD_CHUNK_ALIGNMENT))
-		pv->pe_align = MAX(pv->pe_align,
-				   dev_md_stripe_width(pv->fmt->cmd->sysfs_dir,
-						       pv->dev));
+				  DEFAULT_MD_CHUNK_ALIGNMENT)) {
+		temp_pe_align = dev_md_stripe_width(pv->fmt->cmd->sysfs_dir, pv->dev);
+		if (_alignment_overrides_default(temp_pe_align))
+			pv->pe_align = temp_pe_align;
+	}
 
 	/*
 	 * Align to topology's minimum_io_size or optimal_io_size if present
@@ -94,13 +103,13 @@ unsigned long set_pe_align(struct physical_volume *pv, unsigned long data_alignm
 	if (find_config_tree_bool(pv->fmt->cmd,
 				  "devices/data_alignment_detection",
 				  DEFAULT_DATA_ALIGNMENT_DETECTION)) {
-		pv->pe_align = MAX(pv->pe_align,
-				   dev_minimum_io_size(pv->fmt->cmd->sysfs_dir,
-						       pv->dev));
+		temp_pe_align = dev_minimum_io_size(pv->fmt->cmd->sysfs_dir, pv->dev);
+		if (_alignment_overrides_default(temp_pe_align))
+			pv->pe_align = temp_pe_align;
 
-		pv->pe_align = MAX(pv->pe_align,
-				   dev_optimal_io_size(pv->fmt->cmd->sysfs_dir,
-						       pv->dev));
+		temp_pe_align = dev_optimal_io_size(pv->fmt->cmd->sysfs_dir, pv->dev);
+		if (_alignment_overrides_default(temp_pe_align))
+			pv->pe_align = temp_pe_align;
 	}
 
 	log_very_verbose("%s: Setting PE alignment to %lu sectors.",
diff --git a/test/lvm-utils.sh b/test/lvm-utils.sh
index 486f2d84a..fec4e2cb6 100644
--- a/test/lvm-utils.sh
+++ b/test/lvm-utils.sh
@@ -103,9 +103,10 @@ check_pv_field_()
     local pv=$1;
     local field=$2;
     local expected=$3;
+    local pvs_args=$4; # optional
     local actual;
 
-    actual=$(trim $(pvs --noheadings -o $field $pv))
+    actual=$(trim $(pvs --noheadings $pvs_args -o $field $pv))
 if test "$verbose" = "t"
 then
   echo "check_pv_field_ PV=$pv, field=$field, actual=$actual, expected=$expected"
diff --git a/test/t-pvcreate-operation-md.sh b/test/t-pvcreate-operation-md.sh
index c6c02c6c9..4648f423f 100644
--- a/test/t-pvcreate-operation-md.sh
+++ b/test/t-pvcreate-operation-md.sh
@@ -52,14 +52,14 @@ test -b "$mddev" || exit 200
 
 # Test alignment of PV on MD without any MD-aware or topology-aware detection
 # - should treat $mddev just like any other block device
-pv_align="192.00k"
+pv_align="1.00m"
 pvcreate --metadatasize 128k \
     --config 'devices {md_chunk_alignment=0 data_alignment_detection=0 data_alignment_offset_detection=0}' \
     $mddev
 check_pv_field_ $mddev pe_start $pv_align
 
 # Test md_chunk_alignment independent of topology-aware detection
-pv_align="256.00k"
+pv_align="1.00m"
 pvcreate --metadatasize 128k \
     --config 'devices {data_alignment_detection=0 data_alignment_offset_detection=0}' \
     $mddev
@@ -71,7 +71,8 @@ linux_minor=$(echo `uname -r` | cut -d'.' -f3 | cut -d'-' -f1)
 # Test newer topology-aware alignment detection
 # - first added to 2.6.31 but not "reliable" until 2.6.33
 if [ $linux_minor -ge 33 ]; then
-    pv_align="256.00k"
+    pv_align="1.00m"
+    # optimal_io_size=131072, minimum_io_size=65536
     pvcreate --metadatasize 128k \
 	--config 'devices { md_chunk_alignment=0 }' $mddev
     check_pv_field_ $mddev pe_start $pv_align
@@ -103,15 +104,9 @@ EOF
 	alignment_offset=`cat $sysfs_alignment_offset` || \
 	alignment_offset=0
 
-    if [ "$alignment_offset" = "512" ]; then
-	pv_align="256.50k"
-	pvcreate --metadatasize 128k $mddev_p
-	check_pv_field_ $mddev_p pe_start $pv_align
-	pvremove $mddev_p
-    elif [ "$alignment_offset" = "2048" ]; then
-	pv_align="258.00k"
-	pvcreate --metadatasize 128k $mddev_p
-	check_pv_field_ $mddev_p pe_start $pv_align
-	pvremove $mddev_p
-    fi
+    # default alignment is 1M, add alignment_offset
+    pv_align=$((1048576+$alignment_offset))B
+    pvcreate --metadatasize 128k $mddev_p
+    check_pv_field_ $mddev_p pe_start $pv_align "--units b"
+    pvremove $mddev_p
 fi
diff --git a/test/t-pvcreate-usage.sh b/test/t-pvcreate-usage.sh
index 76ae04073..35dc1c0ac 100755
--- a/test/t-pvcreate-usage.sh
+++ b/test/t-pvcreate-usage.sh
@@ -119,11 +119,11 @@ check_pv_field_ $dev1 pe_start $pv_align
 pvcreate --metadatasize 128k --metadatacopies 2 --dataalignment 3.5k $dev1
 check_pv_field_ $dev1 pe_start $pv_align
 
-# data area is aligned to 64k by default,
+# data area is aligned to 1M by default,
 # data area start is shifted by the specified alignment_offset
-pv_align="195.50k"
+pv_align="1052160B" # 1048576 + (7*512)
 pvcreate --metadatasize 128k --dataalignmentoffset 7s $dev1
-check_pv_field_ $dev1 pe_start $pv_align
+check_pv_field_ $dev1 pe_start $pv_align "--units b"
 
 # 2nd metadata area is created without problems when
 # data area start is shifted by the specified alignment_offset
diff --git a/test/t-topology-support.sh b/test/t-topology-support.sh
index 189afc4b8..b25ed7e17 100644
--- a/test/t-topology-support.sh
+++ b/test/t-topology-support.sh
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ test_snapshot_mount()
 # FIXME add more topology-specific tests and validation (striped LVs, etc)
 
 NUM_DEVS=1
-PER_DEV_SIZE=33
+PER_DEV_SIZE=34
 DEV_SIZE=$(($NUM_DEVS*$PER_DEV_SIZE))
 
 # ---------------------------------------------
diff --git a/test/t-vgcreate-usage.sh b/test/t-vgcreate-usage.sh
index 0253cc3fe..9f1cd8288 100755
--- a/test/t-vgcreate-usage.sh
+++ b/test/t-vgcreate-usage.sh
@@ -130,11 +130,11 @@ check_pv_field_ $dev1 pe_start 200.00k
 vgremove -f $vg
 pvremove -f $dev1
 
-# data area is aligned to 64k by default,
+# data area is aligned to 1M by default,
 # data area start is shifted by the specified alignment_offset
-pv_align="195.50k"
+pv_align="1052160B" # 1048576 + (7*512)
 vgcreate -c n --metadatasize 128k --dataalignmentoffset 7s $vg $dev1
-check_pv_field_ $dev1 pe_start $pv_align
+check_pv_field_ $dev1 pe_start $pv_align "--units b"
 vgremove -f $vg
 pvremove -f $dev1
 
diff --git a/test/t-vgextend-usage.sh b/test/t-vgextend-usage.sh
index d83f84550..eda890493 100644
--- a/test/t-vgextend-usage.sh
+++ b/test/t-vgextend-usage.sh
@@ -67,11 +67,11 @@ check_pv_field_ $dev1 pe_start 200.00k
 vgreduce $vg $dev1
 pvremove -f $dev1
 
-# data area is aligned to 64k by default,
+# data area is aligned to 1M by default,
 # data area start is shifted by the specified alignment_offset
-pv_align="195.50k"
+pv_align="1052160B" # 1048576 + (7*512)
 vgextend --metadatasize 128k --dataalignmentoffset 7s $vg $dev1
-check_pv_field_ $dev1 pe_start $pv_align
+check_pv_field_ $dev1 pe_start $pv_align "--units b"
 vgremove -f $vg
 pvremove -f $dev1
 
diff --git a/test/t-vgsplit-operation.sh b/test/t-vgsplit-operation.sh
index 56913deae..9a46a8e06 100755
--- a/test/t-vgsplit-operation.sh
+++ b/test/t-vgsplit-operation.sh
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ COMM() {
 	LAST_TEST="$@"
 }
 
-prepare_pvs 5 257
+prepare_pvs 5 258
 # FIXME: paramaterize lvm1 vs lvm2 metadata; most of these tests should run
 # fine with lvm1 metadata as well; for now, just add disks 5 and 6 as lvm1
 # metadata
diff --git a/test/test-utils.sh b/test/test-utils.sh
index 6fb3c6888..c38e05f4d 100644
--- a/test/test-utils.sh
+++ b/test/test-utils.sh
@@ -264,7 +264,7 @@ prepare_devs() {
 	local n="$1"
 	test -z "$n" && n=3
 	local devsize="$2"
-	test -z "$devsize" && devsize=33
+	test -z "$devsize" && devsize=34
 	local pvname="$3"
 	test -z "$pvname" && pvname="pv"