diff --git a/HOWTO b/HOWTO
index 4ff2d92..b8a7dd7 100644
--- a/HOWTO
+++ b/HOWTO
@@ -387,6 +387,10 @@
 			roundrobin  Round robin over open files. This
 				is the default.
 
+			sequential  Finish one file before moving on to
+				the next. Multiple files can still be
+				open depending on 'openfiles'.
+
 		The string can have a number appended, indicating how
 		often to switch to a new file. So if option random:4 is
 		given, fio will switch to a new random file after 4 ios
diff --git a/fio.h b/fio.h
index e74836f..11338eb 100644
--- a/fio.h
+++ b/fio.h
@@ -657,11 +657,13 @@
 };
 
 /*
- * roundrobin available files, or choose one at random.
+ * roundrobin available files, or choose one at random, or do each one
+ * serially.
  */
 enum {
 	FIO_FSERVICE_RANDOM	= 1,
 	FIO_FSERVICE_RR		= 2,
+	FIO_FSERVICE_SEQ	= 3,
 };
 
 /*
diff --git a/io_u.c b/io_u.c
index f2406e8..0d55c09 100644
--- a/io_u.c
+++ b/io_u.c
@@ -681,10 +681,15 @@
 	}
 
 	f = td->file_service_file;
-	if (f && (f->flags & FIO_FILE_OPEN) && td->file_service_left--)
-		goto out;
+	if (f && (f->flags & FIO_FILE_OPEN)) {
+		if (td->o.file_service_type == FIO_FSERVICE_SEQ)
+			goto out;
+		if (td->file_service_left--)
+			goto out;
+	}
 
-	if (td->o.file_service_type == FIO_FSERVICE_RR)
+	if (td->o.file_service_type == FIO_FSERVICE_RR ||
+	    td->o.file_service_type == FIO_FSERVICE_SEQ)
 		f = get_next_file_rr(td, FIO_FILE_OPEN, FIO_FILE_CLOSING);
 	else
 		f = get_next_file_rand(td, FIO_FILE_OPEN, FIO_FILE_CLOSING);
diff --git a/options.c b/options.c
index fe890df..cec7bb7 100644
--- a/options.c
+++ b/options.c
@@ -871,6 +871,10 @@
 			    .oval = FIO_FSERVICE_RR,
 			    .help = "Round robin select files",
 			  },
+			  { .ival = "sequential",
+			    .oval = FIO_FSERVICE_SEQ,
+			    .help = "Finish one file before moving to the next",
+			  },
 		},
 		.parent = "nrfiles",
 	},