diff --git a/conversions.go b/conversions.go
index 12132d8c..915e0878 100644
--- a/conversions.go
+++ b/conversions.go
@@ -394,11 +394,8 @@ func convertInMessage(
 				Uid:    inMsg.Header().Uid,
 			},
 		}
-		if !config.UseVectoredRead {
-			// Use part of the incoming message storage as the read buffer
-			// For vectored zero-copy reads, don't allocate any buffers
-			to.Dst = inMsg.GetFree(int(in.Size))
-		}
+		// Use part of the incoming message storage as the read buffer.
+		to.Dst = inMsg.GetFree(int(in.Size))
 		o = to
 
 	case fusekernel.OpReaddir:
@@ -933,10 +930,10 @@ func (c *Connection) kernelResponseForOp(
 		}
 
 	case *fuseops.ReadFileOp:
-		if o.Dst != nil {
-			m.Append(o.Dst)
-		} else {
+		if o.Data != nil {
 			m.Append(o.Data...)
+		} else {
+			m.Append(o.Dst)
 		}
 		m.ShrinkTo(buffer.OutMessageHeaderSize + o.BytesRead)
 
diff --git a/fuseops/ops.go b/fuseops/ops.go
index c0bb76a8..607889c7 100644
--- a/fuseops/ops.go
+++ b/fuseops/ops.go
@@ -704,11 +704,12 @@ type ReadFileOp struct {
 	Size int64
 
 	// The destination buffer, whose length gives the size of the read.
-	// For vectored reads, this field is always nil as the buffer is not provided.
+	// The file system can write to this buffer for non-vectored reads.
 	Dst []byte
 
 	// Set by the file system:
-	// A list of slices of data to send back to the client for vectored reads.
+	// A list of slices of data to send back to the client.
+	// If this field is populated, the contents of `Dst` will be ignored.
 	Data [][]byte
 
 	// Set by the file system: the number of bytes read.
diff --git a/mount_config.go b/mount_config.go
index 7f38a620..e0e64470 100644
--- a/mount_config.go
+++ b/mount_config.go
@@ -157,13 +157,6 @@ type MountConfig struct {
 	// actually utilise any form of qualifiable UNIX permissions.
 	DisableDefaultPermissions bool
 
-	// Use vectored reads.
-	// Vectored read allows file systems to avoid memory copying overhead if
-	// the data is already in memory when they return it to FUSE.
-	// When turned on, ReadFileOp.Dst is always nil and the FS must return data
-	// being read from the file as a list of slices in ReadFileOp.Data.
-	UseVectoredRead bool
-
 	// OS X only.
 	//
 	// The name of the mounted volume, as displayed in the Finder. If empty, a
@@ -222,6 +215,27 @@ type MountConfig struct {
 	// If EnableReaddirplus is true and this flag is false, the kernel will always
 	// use ReaddirPlus for directory listing.
 	EnableAutoReaddirplus bool
+
+	// UseVectoredRead is a legacy flag kept for backward compatibility. It is now a no-op.
+	//
+	// The term vectored read was a misnomer for this flag. Its actual meaning was that
+	// the file system would allocate its own buffers for read operations.
+	//
+	// When this flag was disabled, the FUSE library provided a buffer
+	// in ReadFileOp.Dst. This buffer utilized unused space within the
+	// incoming kernel request message's buffer (InMessage.storage), which is
+	// sized to hold a page plus the maximum write size. Since read requests are
+	// small, there is ample room for read responses.
+	//
+	// Conversely, when this flag was enabled, ReadFileOp.Dst was always nil.
+	// This allowed file systems to avoid memory copying overhead if the data was
+	// already in memory, by requiring them to return the data as a list of slices
+	// in ReadFileOp.Data.
+	//
+	// Currently, both the read mechanisms can coexist. The library's behavior is
+	// to always provide ReadFileOp.Dst. If the file system populates ReadFileOp.Data,
+	// that data will be used for a vectored read, irrespective of this flag's value.
+	UseVectoredRead bool
 }
 
 type FUSEImpl uint8
diff --git a/samples/memfs/inode.go b/samples/memfs/inode.go
index a462d6fe..cb044844 100644
--- a/samples/memfs/inode.go
+++ b/samples/memfs/inode.go
@@ -322,6 +322,29 @@ func (in *inode) ReadAt(p []byte, off int64) (int, error) {
 	return n, nil
 }
 
+// Perform a vectored read from the file's contents.
+//
+// REQUIRES: in.isFile()
+func (in *inode) VectoredReadAt(op *fuseops.ReadFileOp) (bytesRead int, err error) {
+	if !in.isFile() {
+		panic("VectoredReadAt called on non-file.")
+	}
+
+	// For testing, split the file into 1-byte chunks for the vectored read.
+	op.Data = make([][]byte, 0, len(in.contents))
+	for i := int64(0); i < int64(len(in.contents)); i++ {
+		if i >= op.Offset && op.BytesRead < int(op.Size) {
+			op.Data = append(op.Data, in.contents[i:i+1])
+			bytesRead++
+		}
+	}
+
+	if bytesRead < int(op.Size) {
+		err = io.EOF
+	}
+	return bytesRead, err
+}
+
 // Write to the file's contents. See documentation for ioutil.WriterAt.
 //
 // REQUIRES: in.isFile()
diff --git a/samples/memfs/memfs.go b/samples/memfs/memfs.go
index 584e0fca..8e3b877a 100644
--- a/samples/memfs/memfs.go
+++ b/samples/memfs/memfs.go
@@ -31,8 +31,9 @@ import (
 )
 
 const (
-	FileOpenFlagsXattrName     = "fileOpenFlagsXattr"
-	CheckFileOpenFlagsFileName = "checkFileOpenFlags"
+	FileOpenFlagsXattrName      = "fileOpenFlagsXattr"
+	CheckFileOpenFlagsFileName  = "checkFileOpenFlags"
+	EnableVectoredReadXattrName = "enableVectoredRead"
 )
 
 type memFS struct {
@@ -663,8 +664,15 @@ func (fs *memFS) ReadFile(
 	inode := fs.getInodeOrDie(op.Inode)
 
 	// Serve the request.
-	var err error
-	op.BytesRead, err = inode.ReadAt(op.Dst, op.Offset)
+	var err error // Check if we should perform a vectored read.
+	if _, ok := inode.xattrs[EnableVectoredReadXattrName]; ok {
+		// For testing purpose only.
+		// Set attribute (name=EnableVectoredReadXattrName, value=true) to test
+		// whether vectored read is working correctly.
+		op.BytesRead, err = inode.VectoredReadAt(op)
+	} else {
+		op.BytesRead, err = inode.ReadAt(op.Dst, op.Offset)
+	}
 
 	op.Callback = fs.readFileCallback
 
diff --git a/samples/memfs/memfs_test.go b/samples/memfs/memfs_test.go
index b5d156c3..0b021130 100644
--- a/samples/memfs/memfs_test.go
+++ b/samples/memfs/memfs_test.go
@@ -1919,6 +1919,44 @@ func (t *MemFSTest) RemoveXAttr() {
 	AssertEq(fuse.ENOATTR, err)
 }
 
+func (t *MemFSTest) NonVectoredRead() {
+	var err error
+	const contents = "taco"
+	const fileName = "foo"
+	filePath := path.Join(t.Dir, fileName)
+
+	// Create a file.
+	err = ioutil.WriteFile(filePath, []byte(contents), 0600)
+	AssertEq(nil, err)
+
+	// Read the file. This will be a non-vectored read by default.
+	readContents, err := ioutil.ReadFile(filePath)
+	AssertEq(nil, err)
+
+	ExpectEq(contents, string(readContents))
+}
+
+func (t *MemFSTest) VectoredRead() {
+	var err error
+	const contents = "taco"
+	const fileName = "foo"
+	filePath := path.Join(t.Dir, fileName)
+
+	// Create a file.
+	err = ioutil.WriteFile(filePath, []byte(contents), 0600)
+	AssertEq(nil, err)
+
+	// Enable vectored reads for memfs for this file.
+	err = unix.Setxattr(filePath, memfs.EnableVectoredReadXattrName, []byte("true"), 0)
+	AssertEq(nil, err)
+
+	// Read the file.
+	readContents, err := ioutil.ReadFile(filePath)
+	AssertEq(nil, err)
+
+	ExpectEq(contents, string(readContents))
+}
+
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 // Mknod
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
diff --git a/samples/mount_readbenchfs/mount.go b/samples/mount_readbenchfs/mount.go
index 6fa37c7f..53c983fd 100644
--- a/samples/mount_readbenchfs/mount.go
+++ b/samples/mount_readbenchfs/mount.go
@@ -4,12 +4,13 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"flag"
 	"fmt"
-	"github.com/jacobsa/fuse"
-	"github.com/jacobsa/fuse/samples/readbenchfs"
 	"log"
 	"net/http"
 	_ "net/http/pprof"
 	"os"
+
+	"github.com/jacobsa/fuse"
+	"github.com/jacobsa/fuse/samples/readbenchfs"
 )
 
 var fMountPoint = flag.String("mount_point", "", "Path to mount point.")
@@ -38,8 +39,7 @@ func main() {
 	}
 
 	cfg := &fuse.MountConfig{
-		ReadOnly:        *fReadOnly,
-		UseVectoredRead: *fVectored,
+		ReadOnly: *fReadOnly,
 	}
 
 	if *fDebug {