diff --git a/drivers/scsi/libata-core.c b/drivers/scsi/libata-core.c
index 4df5024c3888..d87854e199f6 100644
--- a/drivers/scsi/libata-core.c
+++ b/drivers/scsi/libata-core.c
@@ -927,7 +927,6 @@ static void ata_dev_identify(struct ata_port *ap, unsigned int device)
 {
 	struct ata_device *dev = &ap->device[device];
 	unsigned int major_version;
-	u16 tmp;
 	unsigned long xfer_modes;
 	unsigned int using_edd;
 	struct ata_taskfile tf;
@@ -1030,10 +1029,7 @@ retry:
 			goto err_out_nosup;
 
 		/* get major version */
-		tmp = dev->id[ATA_ID_MAJOR_VER];
-		for (major_version = 14; major_version >= 1; major_version--)
-			if (tmp & (1 << major_version))
-				break;
+		major_version = ata_id_major_version(dev->id);
 
 		/*
 		 * The exact sequence expected by certain pre-ATA4 drives is:
diff --git a/include/linux/ata.h b/include/linux/ata.h
index a8155ca4947f..b02a16c435e7 100644
--- a/include/linux/ata.h
+++ b/include/linux/ata.h
@@ -267,6 +267,16 @@ struct ata_taskfile {
 	  ((u64) (id)[(n) + 1] << 16) |	\
 	  ((u64) (id)[(n) + 0]) )
 
+static inline unsigned int ata_id_major_version(const u16 *id)
+{
+	unsigned int mver;
+
+	for (mver = 14; mver >= 1; mver--)
+		if (id[ATA_ID_MAJOR_VER] & (1 << mver))
+			break;
+	return mver;
+}
+
 static inline int ata_id_current_chs_valid(const u16 *id)
 {
 	/* For ATA-1 devices, if the INITIALIZE DEVICE PARAMETERS command