SANtricity 11 Manuals (CA08872-010)

As your storage requirements for a volume change, you can use the Copy Volume function to copy data from pools or volume groups that use smaller capacity drives to pools or volume groups that use larger capacity drives. For example, you can use the Copy Volume function to do the following:

If you want to change a thin volume to a thick volume, use the Copy Volume operation to create a copy of the thin volume. The target of a Copy Volume operation is always a thick volume.

The Copy Volume function lets you back up a volume by copying data from one volume to another volume on the same storage system. You can use the target volume as a backup for the source volume, for system testing, or to back up to another device, such as a tape drive.

If you need to restore data to the base volume from its associated snapshot volume, you can use the Copy Volume function to copy data from the snapshot volume to the base volume. You can create a volume copy of the data on the snapshot volume, and then copy the data to the base volume.

The following table specifies the types of volumes that can be used for source and target volumes with the Copy Volume function.

¹ The target volume must have a capacity equal or larger to the thin volume reported capacity.

² You cannot use the snapshot volume copy until after the online copy operation completes.

³ If the source volume is a primary volume, the capacity of the target volume must be equal to or greater than the usable capacity of the source volume.