diff --git a/utils/man/scoutfs.8 b/utils/man/scoutfs.8
index e05c42e0..09062fb0 100644
--- a/utils/man/scoutfs.8
+++ b/utils/man/scoutfs.8
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ A path within a ScoutFS filesystem.
 .PD
 
 .TP
-.BI "mkfs META-DEVICE DATA-DEVICE {-Q|--quorum-slot} NR,ADDR,PORT [-m|--max-meta-size SIZE] [-d|--max-data-size SIZE] [-f|--force]"
+.BI "mkfs META-DEVICE DATA-DEVICE {-Q|--quorum-slot} NR,ADDR,PORT [-m|--max-meta-size SIZE] [-d|--max-data-size SIZE] [-z|--data-alloc-zone-blocks BLOCKS] [-f|--force]"
 .sp
 Initialize a new ScoutFS filesystem on the target devices. Since ScoutFS uses
 separate block devices for its metadata and data storage, two are required.
@@ -81,6 +81,10 @@ kibibytes, mebibytes, etc.
 .B "-d, --max-data-size SIZE"
 Same as previous, but for limiting the size of the data device.
 .TP
+.B "-z, --data-alloc-zone-blocks BLOCKS"
+Set the data_alloc_zone_blocks volume option, as described in
+.BR scoutfs (5).
+.TP
 .B "-f, --force"
 Ignore presence of existing data on the data and metadata devices.
 .RE
diff --git a/utils/src/mkfs.c b/utils/src/mkfs.c
index 8b293996..92dc0b50 100644
--- a/utils/src/mkfs.c
+++ b/utils/src/mkfs.c
@@ -97,11 +97,43 @@ static int write_alloc_root(int fd, __le64 fsid,
 			   SCOUTFS_BLOCK_LG_SHIFT, &bt->hdr);
 }
 
+#define SCOUTFS_SERVER_DATA_FILL_TARGET \
+	((4ULL * 1024 * 1024 * 1024) >> SCOUTFS_BLOCK_SM_SHIFT)
+static bool invalid_data_alloc_zone_blocks(u64 total_data_blocks, u64 zone_blocks)
+{
+	u64 nr;
+
+	if (zone_blocks == 0)
+		return false;
+
+	if (zone_blocks < SCOUTFS_SERVER_DATA_FILL_TARGET) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "setting data_alloc_zone_blocks to '%llu' failed, must be at least %llu mount data allocation target blocks",
+		        zone_blocks, SCOUTFS_SERVER_DATA_FILL_TARGET);
+		return true;
+	}
+
+	nr = total_data_blocks / SCOUTFS_DATA_ALLOC_MAX_ZONES;
+	if (zone_blocks < nr) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "setting data_alloc_zone_blocks to '%llu' failed, must be greater than %llu blocks which results in max %u zones",
+			    zone_blocks, nr, SCOUTFS_DATA_ALLOC_MAX_ZONES);
+		return true;
+	}
+
+	if (zone_blocks > total_data_blocks) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "setting data_alloc_zone_blocks to '%llu' failed, must be at most %llu total data device blocks",
+			    zone_blocks, total_data_blocks);
+		return true;
+	}
+
+	return false;
+}
+
 struct mkfs_args {
 	char *meta_device;
 	char *data_device;
 	unsigned long long max_meta_size;
 	unsigned long long max_data_size;
+	u64 data_alloc_zone_blocks;
 	bool force;
 	int nr_slots;
 	struct scoutfs_quorum_slot slots[SCOUTFS_QUORUM_MAX_SLOTS];
@@ -216,6 +248,17 @@ static int do_mkfs(struct mkfs_args *args)
 		     member_sizeof(struct scoutfs_super_block, qconf.slots));
 	memcpy(super->qconf.slots, args->slots, sizeof(args->slots));
 
+	if (invalid_data_alloc_zone_blocks(le64_to_cpu(super->total_data_blocks),
+					   args->data_alloc_zone_blocks)) {
+		ret = -EINVAL;
+		goto out;
+	}
+
+	if (args->data_alloc_zone_blocks) {
+		super->volopt.set_bits |= cpu_to_le64(SCOUTFS_VOLOPT_DATA_ALLOC_ZONE_BLOCKS_BIT);
+		super->volopt.data_alloc_zone_blocks = cpu_to_le64(args->data_alloc_zone_blocks);
+	}
+
 	/* fs root starts with root inode and its index items */
 	blkno = next_meta++;
 	btree_init_root_single(&super->fs_root, bt, 1, blkno);
@@ -477,6 +520,17 @@ static int parse_opt(int key, char *arg, struct argp_state *state)
 				prev_val, args->max_data_size);
 		break;
 	}
+	case 'z': /* data-alloc-zone-blocks */
+	{
+		ret = parse_u64(arg, &args->data_alloc_zone_blocks);
+		if (ret)
+			return ret;
+
+		if (args->data_alloc_zone_blocks == 0)
+			argp_error(state, "must provide non-zero data-alloc-zone-blocks");
+
+		break;
+	}
 	case ARGP_KEY_ARG:
 		if (!args->meta_device)
 			args->meta_device = strdup_or_error(state, arg);
@@ -507,6 +561,7 @@ static struct argp_option options[] = {
 	{ "force", 'f', NULL, 0, "Overwrite existing data on block devices"},
 	{ "max-meta-size", 'm', "SIZE", 0, "Use a size less than the base metadata device size (bytes or KMGTP units)"},
 	{ "max-data-size", 'd', "SIZE", 0, "Use a size less than the base data device size (bytes or KMGTP units)"},
+	{ "data-alloc-zone-blocks", 'z', "BLOCKS", 0, "Divide data device into block zones so each mounts writes to a zone (4KB blocks)"},
 	{ NULL }
 };