diff --git a/repo/config/config.go b/repo/config/config.go
index 8c834b415..d8f5720e5 100644
--- a/repo/config/config.go
+++ b/repo/config/config.go
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ var log = logging.Logger("config")
 // Config is used to load IPFS config files.
 type Config struct {
 	Identity         Identity              // local node's peer identity
+	Datastore        Datastore             // local node's storage
 	Addresses        Addresses             // local node's addresses
 	Mounts           Mounts                // local node's mount points
 	Version          Version               // local node's version management
@@ -29,8 +30,6 @@ type Config struct {
 	SupernodeRouting SupernodeClientConfig // local node's routing servers (if SupernodeRouting enabled)
 	API              API                   // local node's API settings
 	Swarm            SwarmConfig
-
-	Datastore Datastore
 }
 
 const (
diff --git a/repo/fsrepo/fsrepo.go b/repo/fsrepo/fsrepo.go
index d5153837b..ef7059822 100644
--- a/repo/fsrepo/fsrepo.go
+++ b/repo/fsrepo/fsrepo.go
@@ -324,11 +324,17 @@ func (r *FSRepo) openConfig() error {
 
 // openDatastore returns an error if the config file is not present.
 func (r *FSRepo) openDatastore() error {
-	d, err := openDefaultDatastore(r)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
+	switch r.config.Datastore.Type {
+	case "default", "leveldb", "":
+		d, err := openDefaultDatastore(r)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		r.ds = d
+	default:
+		return fmt.Errorf("unknown datastore type: %s", r.config.Datastore.Type)
 	}
-	r.ds = d
+
 	return nil
 }