diff --git a/modules.d/90mdraid/mdraid_start.sh b/modules.d/90mdraid/mdraid_start.sh
index 9ac171d3c8..7b3d0de7e3 100755
--- a/modules.d/90mdraid/mdraid_start.sh
+++ b/modules.d/90mdraid/mdraid_start.sh
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ _md_force_run() {
             _UUID=$(str_replace "$_UUID" ":" "")
 
             # check if we should handle this device
-            strstr " $_MD_UUID " " $_UUID " || continue
+            strstr "$_MD_UUID" "$_UUID" || continue
 
             _md_start "${_md}"
         done