diff --git a/src/dwarfs/metadata_v2.cpp b/src/dwarfs/metadata_v2.cpp
index d9f58457..6a06df82 100644
--- a/src/dwarfs/metadata_v2.cpp
+++ b/src/dwarfs/metadata_v2.cpp
@@ -588,9 +588,6 @@ void metadata_<LoggerPolicy>::dump(
     os << "modes: " << meta_.modes().size() << std::endl;
     os << "names: " << meta_.names().size() << std::endl;
     os << "symlinks: " << meta_.symlinks().size() << std::endl;
-    // TODO: this isn't useful:
-    os << "hardlinks: " << std::accumulate(nlinks_.begin(), nlinks_.end(), 0)
-       << std::endl;
     if (auto dev = meta_.devices()) {
       os << "devices: " << dev->size() << std::endl;
     }
@@ -1028,6 +1025,11 @@ int metadata_<LoggerPolicy>::statvfs(struct ::statvfs* stbuf) const {
   stbuf->f_bsize = meta_.block_size();
   stbuf->f_frsize = 1UL;
   stbuf->f_blocks = meta_.total_fs_size();
+  if (!options_.enable_nlink) {
+    if (auto ths = meta_.total_hardlink_size()) {
+      stbuf->f_blocks += *ths;
+    }
+  }
   stbuf->f_files = inode_count_;
   stbuf->f_flag = ST_RDONLY;
   stbuf->f_namemax = PATH_MAX;
diff --git a/src/dwarfs/scanner.cpp b/src/dwarfs/scanner.cpp
index 6afce64f..05c2e472 100644
--- a/src/dwarfs/scanner.cpp
+++ b/src/dwarfs/scanner.cpp
@@ -722,6 +722,7 @@ void scanner_<LoggerPolicy>::scan(filesystem_writer& fsw,
   mv2.timestamp_base = ge_data.get_timestamp_base();
   mv2.block_size = UINT32_C(1) << cfg_.block_size_bits;
   mv2.total_fs_size = prog.original_size;
+  mv2.total_hardlink_size_ref() = prog.hardlink_size;
   mv2.options_ref() = fsopts;
 
   auto [schema, data] = metadata_v2::freeze(mv2);
diff --git a/test/dwarfs.cpp b/test/dwarfs.cpp
index a05cd9e6..9e7f6501 100644
--- a/test/dwarfs.cpp
+++ b/test/dwarfs.cpp
@@ -254,7 +254,7 @@ void basic_end_to_end_test(std::string const& compressor,
 
   EXPECT_EQ(1 << block_size_bits, vfsbuf.f_bsize);
   EXPECT_EQ(1, vfsbuf.f_frsize);
-  EXPECT_EQ(2056934, vfsbuf.f_blocks);
+  EXPECT_EQ(enable_nlink ? 2056934 : 2080390, vfsbuf.f_blocks);
   EXPECT_EQ(9 + 2 * with_devices + with_specials, vfsbuf.f_files);
   EXPECT_EQ(ST_RDONLY, vfsbuf.f_flag);
   EXPECT_GT(vfsbuf.f_namemax, 0);
diff --git a/thrift/metadata.thrift b/thrift/metadata.thrift
index 86bf38e2..d04c91c0 100644
--- a/thrift/metadata.thrift
+++ b/thrift/metadata.thrift
@@ -232,6 +232,9 @@ struct metadata {
     */
   20: optional list<UInt32>     shared_files_table,
 
+   // total file system size (without hardlinks)
+  21: optional UInt64           total_hardlink_size,
+
   // TODO: add timestamp
   // 21: optional UInt64           timestamp,
 }