topic Will a moved file reference the same blocks? in Network and Storage Protocols https://community.netapp.com/t5/Network-and-Storage-Protocols/Will-a-moved-file-reference-the-same-blocks/m-p/64903#M5899 <HTML><HEAD></HEAD><BODY><P>Depends on how you do the move, and from where to where.</P><P></P><P>If you move files from one volume to another, the blocks will NOT be reused. If you move a file inside a volume, the blocks will get reused as the file basically only gets a new name. You have to do a "real" move though, a "copy &amp; delete original" style operation will of course not work and will always result in new data blocks being used.</P><P></P><P>There's no way around this as it is how WAFL works (i.e. block-level re-use only works inside the same volume)</P><P></P><P>-Michael</P></BODY></HTML> Tue, 12 Jul 2011 13:00:38 GMT Darkstar 2011-07-12T13:00:38Z Will a moved file reference the same blocks? https://community.netapp.com/t5/Network-and-Storage-Protocols/Will-a-moved-file-reference-the-same-blocks/m-p/64898#M5898 <HTML><HEAD></HEAD><BODY><P>I have someone planning on a large scale restructuring on their CIFS share's directory structure. When a file is moved, will it still point to the same blocks? I imagine the inodes for the source and destination directories will be updated accordingly so there will be no write operation. This is a function of WAFL and not the access method (CIFS), right? So if they use Windows' move or Robocopy it should behave the same.</P></BODY></HTML> Thu, 05 Jun 2025 06:51:57 GMT https://community.netapp.com/t5/Network-and-Storage-Protocols/Will-a-moved-file-reference-the-same-blocks/m-p/64898#M5898 rjordan 2025-06-05T06:51:57Z Will a moved file reference the same blocks? https://community.netapp.com/t5/Network-and-Storage-Protocols/Will-a-moved-file-reference-the-same-blocks/m-p/64903#M5899 <HTML><HEAD></HEAD><BODY><P>Depends on how you do the move, and from where to where.</P><P></P><P>If you move files from one volume to another, the blocks will NOT be reused. If you move a file inside a volume, the blocks will get reused as the file basically only gets a new name. You have to do a "real" move though, a "copy &amp; delete original" style operation will of course not work and will always result in new data blocks being used.</P><P></P><P>There's no way around this as it is how WAFL works (i.e. block-level re-use only works inside the same volume)</P><P></P><P>-Michael</P></BODY></HTML> Tue, 12 Jul 2011 13:00:38 GMT https://community.netapp.com/t5/Network-and-Storage-Protocols/Will-a-moved-file-reference-the-same-blocks/m-p/64903#M5899 Darkstar 2011-07-12T13:00:38Z