topic Wich tool is better to move root volume? in ONTAP Discussions

Wich tool is better to move root volume?

unitech89e9 — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 06:23:41 GMT

The Filer has two aggr：aggr0 and aggr1

for some reason I must move the root vol(vol0) to aggr1!

I know the most people use ndmpcopy to move root vol to other place!

But I want to understand that：

1.Can snapmirror move the root volume from aggr0 to aggr1?

2.which tool is better to move root volume(snapmirror vs nsmpcopy)

Thank you!

Re: Wich tool is better to move root volume?

scottgelb — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 04:22:49 GMT

SnapMirror will preserve snapshots if that is the goal so "could" be better if you want a history of the data... but usually not an issue and I most often use ndmpcopy. With ndmpcopy, clean up (delete) the restore_symboltable file after the cutover is done, and for snapmirror, delete the snapmirror snapshots when done to clean up the migration.

So...if you don't need snapshot history, just ndmpcopy. For snapshot retention you can either snapmirror or vol copy (vol copy can copy all snaps the same as a baseline snapmirror initi or just a single snap)

Re: Wich tool is better to move root volume?

unitech89e9 — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 04:44:30 GMT

Hi Scott：

Thanks for your answers,

I have some question

which is faster?

how long is the copy time for these copy style!(Data Ontap root volume almost 13GB)

Re: Wich tool is better to move root volume?

scottgelb — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 04:51:32 GMT

Without snapshots (just the one ndmpcopy creats) ndmp might be a little faster but the copy is quick... using about 40MB/sec on the loopback adapter a 13GB (full volume) would be about 5 1/2 minutes... so either method mirror, vol copy, or ndmpcopy will not take much time.