diff --git a/HISTORY.rst b/HISTORY.rst
index c08104584..e76fc48a8 100644
--- a/HISTORY.rst
+++ b/HISTORY.rst
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 **Bug fixes**
 
 - 1014_: Linux can mask legitimate ENOENT exceptions as NoSuchProcess.
+- 1016_: disk_io_counters() raises RuntimeError on a system with no disks.
 
 *2017-04-10*
 
diff --git a/psutil/__init__.py b/psutil/__init__.py
index 46a819576..20794e70b 100644
--- a/psutil/__init__.py
+++ b/psutil/__init__.py
@@ -2049,8 +2049,6 @@ def disk_io_counters(perdisk=False):
     executed first otherwise this function won't find any disk.
     """
     rawdict = _psplatform.disk_io_counters()
-    if not rawdict:
-        raise RuntimeError("couldn't find any physical disk")
     nt = getattr(_psplatform, "sdiskio", _common.sdiskio)
     if perdisk:
         for disk, fields in rawdict.items():