diff --git a/lib/ftl/ftl_io.c b/lib/ftl/ftl_io.c
index 8a3552fe5..dafcc829c 100644
--- a/lib/ftl/ftl_io.c
+++ b/lib/ftl/ftl_io.c
@@ -294,6 +294,7 @@ ftl_io_init_internal(const struct ftl_io_init_opts *opts)
 	io->rwb_batch = opts->rwb_batch;
 	io->band = opts->band;
 	io->md = opts->md;
+	io->iov = &io->iov_buf[0];
 
 	if (parent) {
 		if (parent->flags & FTL_IO_VECTOR_LBA) {
@@ -406,11 +407,9 @@ ftl_io_user_init(struct spdk_io_channel *_ioch, uint64_t lba, size_t num_blocks,
 	ftl_io_init(io, dev, _ftl_user_cb, cb_ctx, 0, type);
 	io->lba.single = lba;
 	io->user_fn = cb_fn;
-
-	if (ftl_io_init_iovec(io, iov, iov_cnt, num_blocks)) {
-		ftl_io_free(io);
-		return NULL;
-	}
+	io->iov = iov;
+	io->iov_cnt = iov_cnt;
+	io->num_blocks = num_blocks;
 
 	ftl_trace_lba_io_init(io->dev, io);
 	return io;
diff --git a/lib/ftl/ftl_io.h b/lib/ftl/ftl_io.h
index cb5778188..3b99fa35f 100644
--- a/lib/ftl/ftl_io.h
+++ b/lib/ftl/ftl_io.h
@@ -167,7 +167,11 @@ struct ftl_io {
 	/* Number of blocks */
 	size_t					num_blocks;
 
-	struct iovec				iov[FTL_IO_MAX_IOVEC];
+	/* IO vector pointer */
+	struct iovec				*iov;
+
+	/* IO vector buffer for internal requests */
+	struct iovec				iov_buf[FTL_IO_MAX_IOVEC];
 
 	/* Metadata */
 	void					*md;