Fastest way to migrate all data off array

Question

I have a PS6500 in its own RAID6 pool with around 50TB used.  I need to repurpose this array for a different location, so I need to move all its data to a different pool. My initial plan was to merge our two RAID6 pools and then move the 6500 back out to its own pool again while leaving all the data behind.  My concern with this approach was that after the merge, the remaining pool would start rebalancing new data onto the array that we're trying to remove. I decided instead to just move each volume from pool A to pool B which will have the same net effect of leaving the 6500 in its own pool with no data.  The 'move' operation seems much slower than expected, however. My question:  Is one method more efficient (faster) than the other at evacuating the data from this array? (FYI - Pool B is comprised of a 6610 and two 6210s)

jesseroscoe · Answer

The volumes are all already queued for moving across the storage pools. All volumes are thick provisioned, replicated, and none are used with VMware or Hyper-V. It sounds like my two options will both be relatively slow due to the server I/O prioritization you mentioned, so I guess I'll just leave things as they are and ride it out.

As always, thanks for your help.

jesseroscoe · Answer

I'll see if I can get approval to convert these back to thin provisioned. Someone at my company must have had a bad experience one time with a thin-provisioned volume, and so they basically made it policy to thick provision everything :(

Most of these volumes contain static data anyways, so they should be perfect candidates for thin provisioning.

Thanks.

EqualLogic

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