diff --git a/sbin/mdconfig/mdconfig.8 b/sbin/mdconfig/mdconfig.8
index 0f993575aa1e..5437a38d29f2 100644
--- a/sbin/mdconfig/mdconfig.8
+++ b/sbin/mdconfig/mdconfig.8
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ which
 denotes byte, kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte and terabyte respectively. Options
 .Fl a
 and
-.Fl t Ar malloc
+.Fl t Ar swap
 are implied if not specified.
 .It Fl S Ar sectorsize
 Sectorsize to use for malloc backed device.
diff --git a/sbin/mdconfig/mdconfig.c b/sbin/mdconfig/mdconfig.c
index 068aaba64a0a..4de9057db909 100644
--- a/sbin/mdconfig/mdconfig.c
+++ b/sbin/mdconfig/mdconfig.c
@@ -200,9 +200,9 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 				cmdline = 1;
 			}
 			if (cmdline == 1) {
-				/* Imply ``-t malloc'' */
-				mdio.md_type = MD_MALLOC;
-				mdio.md_options = MD_AUTOUNIT | MD_COMPRESS;
+				/* Imply ``-t swap'' */
+				mdio.md_type = MD_SWAP;
+				mdio.md_options = MD_CLUSTER | MD_AUTOUNIT | MD_COMPRESS;
 				cmdline = 2;
 			}
 			if (cmdline != 2)