diff --git a/HISTORY.rst b/HISTORY.rst
index 602ce3d76..3dcafa3c2 100644
--- a/HISTORY.rst
+++ b/HISTORY.rst
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ XXXX-XX-XX
   MemoryError.  (patch by sylvainduchesne)
 - 1309_: [Linux] Process.status() is unable to recognie "idle" and "parked"
   statuses (returns '?').
+- 1313_: [Linux] disk_io_counters() can report inflated IO counters due to
+  erroneously counting base disk device and its partition(s) twice.
 
 5.4.6
 =====
diff --git a/docs/index.rst b/docs/index.rst
index a64448e3d..097d828dc 100644
--- a/docs/index.rst
+++ b/docs/index.rst
@@ -421,6 +421,8 @@ Disks
   cache.
   On Windows it may be ncessary to issue ``diskperf -y`` command from cmd.exe
   first in order to enable IO counters.
+  On diskless machines this function will return ``None`` or ``{}`` if
+  *perdisk* is ``True``.
 
     >>> import psutil
     >>> psutil.disk_io_counters()
@@ -474,6 +476,8 @@ Network
   numbers will always be increasing or remain the same, but never decrease.
   ``net_io_counters.cache_clear()`` can be used to invalidate the *nowrap*
   cache.
+  On machines with no network iterfaces this function will return ``None`` or
+  ``{}`` if *pernic* is ``True``.
 
     >>> import psutil
     >>> psutil.net_io_counters()
diff --git a/psutil/__init__.py b/psutil/__init__.py
index 299fc1ea8..291d0d16a 100644
--- a/psutil/__init__.py
+++ b/psutil/__init__.py
@@ -2013,7 +2013,8 @@ def disk_io_counters(perdisk=False, nowrap=True):
     On recent Windows versions 'diskperf -y' command may need to be
     executed first otherwise this function won't find any disk.
     """
-    rawdict = _psplatform.disk_io_counters()
+    kwargs = dict(perdisk=perdisk) if LINUX else {}
+    rawdict = _psplatform.disk_io_counters(**kwargs)
     if not rawdict:
         return {} if perdisk else None
     if nowrap:
diff --git a/psutil/_pslinux.py b/psutil/_pslinux.py
index ffa3a8a32..0aa507bd2 100644
--- a/psutil/_pslinux.py
+++ b/psutil/_pslinux.py
@@ -252,12 +252,12 @@ def file_flags_to_mode(flags):
     return mode
 
 
-def get_sector_size(partition):
-    """Return the sector size of a partition.
-    Used by disk_io_counters().
-    """
+def get_sector_size(name):
+    """Return the sector size of a storage device."""
+    # Some devices may have a slash in their name (e.g. cciss/c0d0...).
+    name = name.replace('/', '!')
     try:
-        with open("/sys/block/%s/queue/hw_sector_size" % partition, "rt") as f:
+        with open("/sys/block/%s/queue/hw_sector_size" % name, "rt") as f:
             return int(f.read())
     except (IOError, ValueError):
         # man iostat states that sectors are equivalent with blocks and
@@ -265,6 +265,25 @@ def get_sector_size(partition):
         return SECTOR_SIZE_FALLBACK
 
 
+def is_storage_device(name):
+    """Return True if the given name refers to a physical (e.g. "sda",
+    "nvme0n1") or virtual (e.g. "loop1", "ram") storage device.
+    In case name refers to a device's partition (e.g. "sda1", "nvme0n1p1")
+    this is supposed to return False.
+    """
+    # Readapted from iostat source code, see:
+    # https://github.com/sysstat/sysstat/blob/
+    #     97912938cd476645b267280069e83b1c8dc0e1c7/common.c#L208
+    # Some devices may have a slash in their name (e.g. cciss/c0d0...).
+    name = name.replace('/', '!')
+    including_virtual = True
+    if including_virtual:
+        path = "/sys/block/%s" % name
+    else:
+        path = "/sys/block/%s/device" % name
+    return os.access(path, os.F_OK)
+
+
 @memoize
 def set_scputimes_ntuple(procfs_path):
     """Set a namedtuple of variable fields depending on the CPU times
@@ -1028,32 +1047,11 @@ def net_if_stats():
 disk_usage = _psposix.disk_usage
 
 
-def disk_io_counters():
+def disk_io_counters(perdisk=False):
     """Return disk I/O statistics for every disk installed on the
     system as a dict of raw tuples.
     """
-    # determine partitions we want to look for
-    def get_partitions():
-        partitions = []
-        with open_text("%s/partitions" % get_procfs_path()) as f:
-            lines = f.readlines()[2:]
-        for line in reversed(lines):
-            _, _, _, name = line.split()
-            if name[-1].isdigit():
-                # we're dealing with a partition (e.g. 'sda1'); 'sda' will
-                # also be around but we want to omit it
-                partitions.append(name)
-            else:
-                if not partitions or not partitions[-1].startswith(name):
-                    # we're dealing with a disk entity for which no
-                    # partitions have been defined (e.g. 'sda' but
-                    # 'sda1' was not around), see:
-                    # https://github.com/giampaolo/psutil/issues/338
-                    partitions.append(name)
-        return partitions
-
     retdict = {}
-    partitions = get_partitions()
     with open_text("%s/diskstats" % get_procfs_path()) as f:
         lines = f.readlines()
     for line in lines:
@@ -1091,12 +1089,26 @@ def get_partitions():
         else:
             raise ValueError("not sure how to interpret line %r" % line)
 
-        if name in partitions:
-            ssize = get_sector_size(name)
-            rbytes *= ssize
-            wbytes *= ssize
-            retdict[name] = (reads, writes, rbytes, wbytes, rtime, wtime,
-                             reads_merged, writes_merged, busy_time)
+        if not perdisk and not is_storage_device(name):
+            # perdisk=False means we want to calculate totals so we skip
+            # partitions (e.g. 'sda1', 'nvme0n1p1') and only include
+            # base disk devices (e.g. 'sda', 'nvme0n1'). Base disks
+            # include a total of all their partitions + some extra size
+            # of their own:
+            #     $ cat /proc/diskstats
+            #     259       0 sda 10485760 ...
+            #     259       1 sda1 5186039 ...
+            #     259       1 sda2 5082039 ...
+            # See:
+            # https://github.com/giampaolo/psutil/pull/1313
+            continue
+
+        ssize = get_sector_size(name)
+        rbytes *= ssize
+        wbytes *= ssize
+        retdict[name] = (reads, writes, rbytes, wbytes, rtime, wtime,
+                         reads_merged, writes_merged, busy_time)
+
     return retdict
 
 
diff --git a/psutil/tests/test_linux.py b/psutil/tests/test_linux.py
index 9ea59b617..761f79047 100755
--- a/psutil/tests/test_linux.py
+++ b/psutil/tests/test_linux.py
@@ -986,15 +986,10 @@ def test_disk_io_counters_kernel_2_4_mocked(self):
         # Tests /proc/diskstats parsing format for 2.4 kernels, see:
         # https://github.com/giampaolo/psutil/issues/767
         with mock_open_content(
-                '/proc/partitions',
-                textwrap.dedent("""\
-                    major minor  #blocks  name
-
-                       8        0  488386584 hda
-                    """)):
-            with mock_open_content(
-                    '/proc/diskstats',
-                    "   3     0   1 hda 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12"):
+                '/proc/diskstats',
+                "   3     0   1 hda 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12"):
+            with mock.patch('psutil._pslinux.is_storage_device',
+                            return_value=True):
                 ret = psutil.disk_io_counters(nowrap=False)
                 self.assertEqual(ret.read_count, 1)
                 self.assertEqual(ret.read_merged_count, 2)
@@ -1011,15 +1006,10 @@ def test_disk_io_counters_kernel_2_6_full_mocked(self):
         # lines reporting all metrics:
         # https://github.com/giampaolo/psutil/issues/767
         with mock_open_content(
-                '/proc/partitions',
-                textwrap.dedent("""\
-                    major minor  #blocks  name
-
-                       8        0  488386584 hda
-                    """)):
-            with mock_open_content(
-                    '/proc/diskstats',
-                    "   3    0   hda 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11"):
+                '/proc/diskstats',
+                "   3    0   hda 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11"):
+            with mock.patch('psutil._pslinux.is_storage_device',
+                            return_value=True):
                 ret = psutil.disk_io_counters(nowrap=False)
                 self.assertEqual(ret.read_count, 1)
                 self.assertEqual(ret.read_merged_count, 2)
@@ -1038,15 +1028,10 @@ def test_disk_io_counters_kernel_2_6_limited_mocked(self):
         # (instead of a disk). See:
         # https://github.com/giampaolo/psutil/issues/767
         with mock_open_content(
-                '/proc/partitions',
-                textwrap.dedent("""\
-                    major minor  #blocks  name
-
-                       8        0  488386584 hda
-                    """)):
-            with mock_open_content(
-                    '/proc/diskstats',
-                    "   3    1   hda 1 2 3 4"):
+                '/proc/diskstats',
+                "   3    1   hda 1 2 3 4"):
+            with mock.patch('psutil._pslinux.is_storage_device',
+                            return_value=True):
                 ret = psutil.disk_io_counters(nowrap=False)
                 self.assertEqual(ret.read_count, 1)
                 self.assertEqual(ret.read_bytes, 2 * SECTOR_SIZE)
@@ -1059,6 +1044,56 @@ def test_disk_io_counters_kernel_2_6_limited_mocked(self):
                 self.assertEqual(ret.write_time, 0)
                 self.assertEqual(ret.busy_time, 0)
 
+    def test_disk_io_counters_include_partitions(self):
+        # Make sure that when perdisk=True disk partitions are returned,
+        # see:
+        # https://github.com/giampaolo/psutil/pull/1313#issuecomment-408626842
+        with mock_open_content(
+                '/proc/diskstats',
+                textwrap.dedent("""\
+                    3    0   nvme0n1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
+                    3    0   nvme0n1p1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
+                    """)):
+            with mock.patch('psutil._pslinux.is_storage_device',
+                            return_value=False):
+                ret = psutil.disk_io_counters(perdisk=True, nowrap=False)
+                self.assertEqual(len(ret), 2)
+                self.assertEqual(ret['nvme0n1'].read_count, 1)
+                self.assertEqual(ret['nvme0n1p1'].read_count, 1)
+                self.assertEqual(ret['nvme0n1'].write_count, 5)
+                self.assertEqual(ret['nvme0n1p1'].write_count, 5)
+
+    def test_disk_io_counters_exclude_partitions(self):
+        # Make sure that when perdisk=False partitions (e.g. 'sda1',
+        # 'nvme0n1p1') are skipped and not included in the total count.
+        # https://github.com/giampaolo/psutil/pull/1313#issuecomment-408626842
+        with mock_open_content(
+                '/proc/diskstats',
+                textwrap.dedent("""\
+                    3    0   nvme0n1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
+                    3    0   nvme0n1p1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
+                    """)):
+            with mock.patch('psutil._pslinux.is_storage_device',
+                            return_value=False):
+                ret = psutil.disk_io_counters(perdisk=False, nowrap=False)
+                self.assertIsNone(ret)
+
+        #
+        def is_storage_device(name):
+            return name == 'nvme0n1'
+
+        with mock_open_content(
+                '/proc/diskstats',
+                textwrap.dedent("""\
+                    3    0   nvme0n1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
+                    3    0   nvme0n1p1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
+                    """)):
+            with mock.patch('psutil._pslinux.is_storage_device',
+                            create=True, side_effect=is_storage_device):
+                ret = psutil.disk_io_counters(perdisk=False, nowrap=False)
+                self.assertEqual(ret.read_count, 1)
+                self.assertEqual(ret.write_count, 5)
+
 
 # =====================================================================
 # --- misc