upgrade from 32 bit to 64 bit aggregate/volumes with flexclone space savings intact

[irakli_natsvlishvili]

Have to ask this question separately in a new thread, because on other threads people jump into answering without reading the question first.

OK, here are the conditions:

ONTAP 7.3.4 with 32 bit aggregates volumes.

HEAVY use of file based flexcloning - on some volumes space savings exceed 70%. For example real data on a volume is 1TB and logical volume size is 8TB. We are already using >200% of usable capacity due to file based flexcloning.

Goal - migrate/upgrade the storage system to ONTAP 8.0.1/8.x.x with 64 bit aggregates/volumes WITH THE PRESERVATION of file based flexcloning savings.

Current methods - NDMP or QTS ARE NOT acceptable because they eliminate file based flexclone savings.

Question: WILL it be possible with upcoming releases of ONTAP? I know that NOW it is NOT possible.

Thanks in advance.

[aborzenkov]

The rumours are, future Data ONTAP versions (I have heard about 8.1) will enable 32 => 64 bit conversion in place. I expect in this case all volumes will be retained "as is" together with all space savings.