diff --git a/hw/nvram/mac_nvram.c b/hw/nvram/mac_nvram.c
index 5f9d16fb3e..fe9df9fa35 100644
--- a/hw/nvram/mac_nvram.c
+++ b/hw/nvram/mac_nvram.c
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
 #include "migration/vmstate.h"
 #include "qemu/cutils.h"
 #include "qemu/module.h"
+#include "qemu/error-report.h"
 #include "trace.h"
 #include <zlib.h>
 
@@ -48,7 +49,10 @@ static void macio_nvram_writeb(void *opaque, hwaddr addr,
     trace_macio_nvram_write(addr, value);
     s->data[addr] = value;
     if (s->blk) {
-        blk_pwrite(s->blk, addr, 1, &s->data[addr], 0);
+        if (blk_pwrite(s->blk, addr, 1, &s->data[addr], 0) < 0) {
+            error_report("%s: write of NVRAM data to backing store failed",
+                         blk_name(s->blk));
+        }
     }
 }