diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
index 9ec5ace1c7..b2c6bd43a2 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
@@ -1634,17 +1634,6 @@ qemuBuildDiskDeviceStr(const virDomainDef *def,
         break;
 
     case VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_SATA:
-        if (disk->info.addr.drive.bus != 0) {
-            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
-                           _("bus must be 0 for ide controller"));
-            return NULL;
-        }
-        if (disk->info.addr.drive.target != 0) {
-            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
-                           _("target must be 0 for ide controller"));
-            return NULL;
-        }
-
         if (disk->device == VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_DEVICE_CDROM)
             virBufferAddLit(&opt, "ide-cd");
         else
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_validate.c b/src/qemu/qemu_validate.c
index 22fb3e9e49..aa036785fd 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_validate.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_validate.c
@@ -2243,6 +2243,25 @@ qemuValidateDomainDeviceDefDiskFrontend(const virDomainDiskDef *disk,
         }
         break;
 
+    case VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_SATA:
+        if (disk->info.type != VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_ADDRESS_TYPE_DRIVE) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR, "%s",
+                           _("unexpected address type for sata disk"));
+            return -1;
+        }
+
+        if (disk->info.addr.drive.bus != 0) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
+                           _("bus must be 0 for sata controller"));
+            return -1;
+        }
+        if (disk->info.addr.drive.target != 0) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
+                           _("target must be 0 for sata controller"));
+            return -1;
+        }
+        break;
+
     case VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_VIRTIO:
     case VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_XEN:
     case VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_SD:
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/disk-sata-incompatible-address.err b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/disk-sata-incompatible-address.err
index cdb176b7d6..09395bcd6b 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/disk-sata-incompatible-address.err
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/disk-sata-incompatible-address.err
@@ -1 +1 @@
-unsupported configuration: Invalid address type 'pci' for the disk 'sda' with the bus type 'sata'
+internal error: unexpected address type for sata disk