Converting from one type of volume to another

What converting to another volume type involves

Converting from one type of volume to another is not a single-step procedure. It involves creating a new volume, migrating data from the old volume to the new volume, and verifying that the data migration was successful. You can migrate data from traditional volumes to FlexVol volumes or vice versa. For more information about migrating data, see Migrating between traditional volumes and FlexVol volumes.

When to convert from one type of volume to another

You might want to convert a traditional volume to a FlexVol volume because

You upgraded an existing NetApp storage system that is running an earlier release than Data ONTAP 7.0 or later and you want to convert the traditional root volume to a FlexVol volume to reduce the amount of disks used to store the system directories and files.
You purchased a new storage system but initially created traditional volumes and now you want to
- Take advantage of FlexVol volumes
- Take advantage of other advanced features, such as FlexClone volumes
- Reduce lost capacity due to the number of parity disks associated with traditional volumes
- Realize performance improvements by being able to increase the number of disks the data in a FlexVol volume is striped across

You might want to convert a FlexVol volume to a traditional volume because

You want to revert to an earlier release of Data ONTAP.

Depending on the number and size of traditional volumes on your storage systems, this might require a significant amount of planning, resources, and time.

NetApp offers assistance

NetApp Professional Services staff, including Professional Services Engineers (PSEs) and Professional Services Consultants (PSCs) are trained to assist customers with converting volume types and migrating data, among other services. For more information, contact your local NetApp Sales representative, PSE, or PSC.