> you should never use 512-byte recordsize even on an HDD with 512-byte sectors I think you meant to refer to the pool's sector size (i.e. "ashift" property) r

> you should never use 512-byte recordsize even on an HDD with 512-byte sectors I think you meant to refer to the pool's sector size (i.e. "ashift" property) rather than the recordsize. I agree, but I wouldn't say "never", as that's too strong a word. It would be useful to use a 512-byte ZFS pool sector size even when the HDD uses 4K sectors if you care a lot about disk space efficiency but don't care at all about performance or HDD wear (for example, if you plan to use a ZFS pool almost exclusively read-only). That said, I would also recommend a 4K pool sector size in almost all cases, as HDD space is cheap.