How can I prevent Java from creating hsperfdata files?

Try JVM option -XX:-UsePerfData

more info

The following might be helpful that is from link https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/technotes/tools/unix/java.html

-XX:+UsePerfData

    Enables the perfdata feature. This option is enabled by default
    to allow JVM monitoring and performance testing. Disabling it 
    suppresses the creation of the hsperfdata_userid directories. 
    To disable the perfdata feature, specify -XX:-UsePerfData.

As an addendum to Mack's reply (answered Mar 25 '11 at 17:12), the option java.tmp.dir looks no longer available since Java 8. See the info at: https://bugs.java.com/view_bug.do?bug_id=8189674

So disabling the option using -XX:-UsePerfData seems the only option not to have hsperfdata_* files.

EDIT: Cleanup info and summarize

Summary:

• Its a feature, not a bug
• It can be turned of with -XX:-UsePerfData which might hurt performance

Relevant info:

• Sun forum
• Bugreport

From svrist's link:

The first item in http://java.sun.com/performance/jvmstat/faq.html mentions an option which you can turn off to disable the whole suite of features: -XX:-UsePerfData.

According to the filed bug report there is a work-around:

This undocumented option will disable the perfdata feature:
-XX:-UsePerfData

It's worth mentioning that it is a feature though, not a bug. The above work-around just disables the feature.