diff --git a/cmd/config-current.go b/cmd/config-current.go
index 9dc033a69..dd22f72c5 100644
--- a/cmd/config-current.go
+++ b/cmd/config-current.go
@@ -600,6 +600,7 @@ func applyDynamicConfigForSubSys(ctx context.Context, objAPI ObjectLayer, s conf
 			return fmt.Errorf("Unable to apply scanner config: %w", err)
 		}
 		// update dynamic scanner values.
+		scannerIdleMode.Store(scannerCfg.IdleMode)
 		scannerCycle.Store(scannerCfg.Cycle)
 		logger.LogIf(ctx, scannerSleeper.Update(scannerCfg.Delay, scannerCfg.MaxWait))
 	case config.LoggerWebhookSubSys:
diff --git a/cmd/data-scanner.go b/cmd/data-scanner.go
index 051a8d92a..5d6d3a048 100644
--- a/cmd/data-scanner.go
+++ b/cmd/data-scanner.go
@@ -65,8 +65,9 @@ var (
 	globalHealConfig heal.Config
 
 	// Sleeper values are updated when config is loaded.
-	scannerSleeper = newDynamicSleeper(2, time.Second, true) // Keep defaults same as config defaults
-	scannerCycle   = uatomic.NewDuration(dataScannerStartDelay)
+	scannerSleeper  = newDynamicSleeper(2, time.Second, true) // Keep defaults same as config defaults
+	scannerCycle    = uatomic.NewDuration(dataScannerStartDelay)
+	scannerIdleMode = uatomic.NewInt32(0) // default is throttled when idle
 )
 
 // initDataScanner will start the scanner in the background.
diff --git a/cmd/xl-storage-disk-id-check.go b/cmd/xl-storage-disk-id-check.go
index aa365ff10..fae3e7413 100644
--- a/cmd/xl-storage-disk-id-check.go
+++ b/cmd/xl-storage-disk-id-check.go
@@ -286,8 +286,7 @@ func (p *xlStorageDiskIDCheck) NSScanner(ctx context.Context, cache dataUsageCac
 	}
 
 	weSleep := func() bool {
-		// Entire queue is full, so we sleep.
-		return cap(p.health.tokens) == len(p.health.tokens)
+		return scannerIdleMode.Load() == 0
 	}
 
 	return p.storage.NSScanner(ctx, cache, updates, scanMode, weSleep)
diff --git a/internal/config/api/api.go b/internal/config/api/api.go
index 8e665ab23..dd8508416 100644
--- a/internal/config/api/api.go
+++ b/internal/config/api/api.go
@@ -130,9 +130,9 @@ var (
 			Value: "5m",
 		},
 		config.KV{
-			Key:        apiDisableODirect,
-			Value:      "",
-			Deprecated: true,
+			Key:           apiDisableODirect,
+			Value:         "",
+			HiddenIfEmpty: true,
 		},
 		config.KV{
 			Key:   apiODirect,
diff --git a/internal/config/config.go b/internal/config/config.go
index d329e0014..be16e1f88 100644
--- a/internal/config/config.go
+++ b/internal/config/config.go
@@ -274,7 +274,7 @@ type KV struct {
 	Key   string `json:"key"`
 	Value string `json:"value"`
 
-	Deprecated bool `json:"-"`
+	HiddenIfEmpty bool `json:"-"`
 }
 
 func (kv KV) String() string {
@@ -1447,7 +1447,7 @@ func (cs *SubsysInfo) WriteTo(b *strings.Builder, off bool) {
 			continue
 		}
 		// Ignore empty and deprecated values
-		if dkv.Deprecated && kv.Value == "" {
+		if dkv.HiddenIfEmpty && kv.Value == "" {
 			continue
 		}
 		// Do not need to print if state is on
diff --git a/internal/config/scanner/scanner.go b/internal/config/scanner/scanner.go
index 6f4bc7c0e..530a87abc 100644
--- a/internal/config/scanner/scanner.go
+++ b/internal/config/scanner/scanner.go
@@ -31,6 +31,9 @@ const (
 	Speed    = "speed"
 	EnvSpeed = "MINIO_SCANNER_SPEED"
 
+	IdleSpeed    = "idle_speed"
+	EnvIdleSpeed = "MINIO_SCANNER_IDLE_SPEED"
+
 	// All below are deprecated in October 2022 and
 	// replaced them with a single speed parameter
 	Delay            = "delay"
@@ -47,6 +50,8 @@ const (
 type Config struct {
 	// Delay is the sleep multiplier.
 	Delay float64 `json:"delay"`
+	// Behavior of the scanner when there is no other parallel S3 requests
+	IdleMode int32 // 0 => throttling, 1 => full speed
 	// MaxWait is maximum wait time between operations
 	MaxWait time.Duration
 	// Cycle is the time.Duration between each scanner cycles
@@ -59,23 +64,28 @@ var DefaultKVS = config.KVS{
 		Key:   Speed,
 		Value: "default",
 	},
-	// Deprecated Oct 2022
 	config.KV{
-		Key:        Delay,
-		Value:      "",
-		Deprecated: true,
+		Key:           IdleSpeed,
+		Value:         "",
+		HiddenIfEmpty: true,
 	},
 	// Deprecated Oct 2022
 	config.KV{
-		Key:        MaxWait,
-		Value:      "",
-		Deprecated: true,
+		Key:           Delay,
+		Value:         "",
+		HiddenIfEmpty: true,
 	},
 	// Deprecated Oct 2022
 	config.KV{
-		Key:        Cycle,
-		Value:      "",
-		Deprecated: true,
+		Key:           MaxWait,
+		Value:         "",
+		HiddenIfEmpty: true,
+	},
+	// Deprecated Oct 2022
+	config.KV{
+		Key:           Cycle,
+		Value:         "",
+		HiddenIfEmpty: true,
 	},
 }
 
@@ -107,6 +117,16 @@ func LookupConfig(kvs config.KVS) (cfg Config, err error) {
 	default:
 		return cfg, fmt.Errorf("unknown '%s' value", speed)
 	}
+
+	switch idleSpeed := env.Get(EnvIdleSpeed, kvs.GetWithDefault(IdleSpeed, DefaultKVS)); idleSpeed {
+	case "", "throttled": // Empty is the default mode;
+		cfg.IdleMode = 0
+	case "full":
+		cfg.IdleMode = 1
+	default:
+		return cfg, fmt.Errorf("unknown value: '%s'", idleSpeed)
+	}
+
 	return
 }