diff --git a/test/common/autotest_common.sh b/test/common/autotest_common.sh
index f7227cd72..c3b276152 100755
--- a/test/common/autotest_common.sh
+++ b/test/common/autotest_common.sh
@@ -540,6 +540,29 @@ function waitforbdev() {
 	return 1
 }
 
+function make_filesystem() {
+	local fstype=$1
+	local dev_name=$2
+	local i=0
+	local force
+
+	if [ $fstype = ext4 ]; then
+		force=-F
+	else
+		force=-f
+	fi
+
+	while ! mkfs.${fstype} $force ${dev_name}; do
+		if [ $i -ge 15 ]; then
+			return 1
+		fi
+		i=$((i+1))
+		sleep 1
+	done
+
+	return 0
+}
+
 function killprocess() {
 	# $1 = process pid
 	if [ -z "$1" ]; then
diff --git a/test/ftl/restore.sh b/test/ftl/restore.sh
index b1a97b3fd..5527ae1af 100755
--- a/test/ftl/restore.sh
+++ b/test/ftl/restore.sh
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ waitfornbd nbd0
 $rpc_py save_config > $testdir/config/ftl.json
 
 # Prepare the disk by creating ext4 fs and putting a file on it
-mkfs.ext4 -F /dev/nbd0
+make_filesystem ext4 /dev/nbd0
 mount /dev/nbd0 $mount_dir
 dd if=/dev/urandom of=$mount_dir/testfile bs=4K count=256K
 sync
diff --git a/test/iscsi_tgt/ext4test/ext4test.sh b/test/iscsi_tgt/ext4test/ext4test.sh
index de58f2a96..f9430e88c 100755
--- a/test/iscsi_tgt/ext4test/ext4test.sh
+++ b/test/iscsi_tgt/ext4test/ext4test.sh
@@ -51,8 +51,8 @@ $rpc_py bdev_error_inject_error EE_Malloc0 'all' 'failure' -n 1000
 dev=$(iscsiadm -m session -P 3 | grep "Attached scsi disk" | awk '{print $4}')
 
 set +e
-waitforfile /dev/$dev
-if mkfs.ext4 -F /dev/$dev; then
+waitforfile /dev/${dev}
+if make_filesystem ext4 /dev/${dev}; then
 	echo "mkfs successful - expected failure"
 	iscsicleanup
 	killprocess $pid
@@ -84,9 +84,9 @@ waitforiscsidevices 1
 devs=$(iscsiadm -m session -P 3 | grep "Attached scsi disk" | awk '{print $4}')
 
 for dev in $devs; do
-	mkfs.ext4 -F /dev/$dev
+	make_filesystem ext4 /dev/${dev}
 	mkdir -p /mnt/${dev}dir
-	mount -o sync /dev/$dev /mnt/${dev}dir
+	mount -o sync /dev/${dev} /mnt/${dev}dir
 
 	rsync -qav --exclude=".git" --exclude="*.o" $rootdir/ /mnt/${dev}dir/spdk
 
diff --git a/test/iscsi_tgt/filesystem/filesystem.sh b/test/iscsi_tgt/filesystem/filesystem.sh
index 06a2002e7..3813ee7ab 100755
--- a/test/iscsi_tgt/filesystem/filesystem.sh
+++ b/test/iscsi_tgt/filesystem/filesystem.sh
@@ -78,11 +78,7 @@ sleep 1
 function filesystem_test {
 	fstype=$1
 
-	if [ "$fstype" == "ext4" ]; then
-		mkfs.${fstype} -F /dev/${dev}1
-	else
-		mkfs.${fstype} -f /dev/${dev}1
-	fi
+	make_filesystem ${fstype} /dev/${dev}1
 	mount /dev/${dev}1 /mnt/device
 	if [ $RUN_NIGHTLY -eq 1 ]; then
 		fio -filename=/mnt/device/test -direct=1 -iodepth 64 -thread=1 -invalidate=1 -rw=randwrite -ioengine=libaio -bs=4k \
diff --git a/test/nvmf/target/filesystem.sh b/test/nvmf/target/filesystem.sh
index a47d4169e..262131d15 100755
--- a/test/nvmf/target/filesystem.sh
+++ b/test/nvmf/target/filesystem.sh
@@ -16,18 +16,7 @@ function nvmf_filesystem_create {
 	fstype=$1
 	nvme_name=$2
 
-	if [ $fstype = ext4 ]; then
-		force=-F
-	else
-		force=-f
-	fi
-
-	local i=0
-	while ! mkfs.${fstype} $force /dev/${nvme_name}p1; do
-		[ $i -lt 15 ] || break
-		i=$((i+1))
-		sleep 1
-	done
+	make_filesystem ${fstype} /dev/${nvme_name}p1
 
 	mount /dev/${nvme_name}p1 /mnt/device
 	touch /mnt/device/aaa