[kefyras]

> but ZFS doesn't like living on a partitioned disk nearly as much.

Don't know how true is this, since it's not even possible to create a zpool on the whole unpartitioned device on linux. It automatically creates GPT label with zfs and a small efi partition.

[zaarn]

That is true, but I suspect that only happens to protect the zpool against tools like the Windows Repair Install (which likes to attempt repairs on disks without GPT label). Using ZFS on a partition inside a GPT disk tends to lead to a few quirky behaviours, like for example ZFS not always reporting correct SMART data of the device.

[fomine3]

IIRC ZoL `zpool create /dev/disk/by-id/ata-XXX` makes gpt partition table and zfs partition inside it.

[zaarn]

A stub table.

[rleigh]

It's nonsense. A ZFS pool is created from block devices, and ZFS doesn't care if those are whole discs or partitions.

Every ZFS pool I have is composed of GPT partitions, and this is also recommended in ZFS books as good practice to make it easier to identify a failed drive. Since you see the GPT partition name in the "zpool status" and other tools' output, it's handy.