Should I use a thin volume or a thick volume?
Applicable Products
QTS
Overview
Thin volumes
- Storage pool space is allocated to a thin volume on demand, as data is written to the volume.
- Good for users who value space efficiency or want to protect their data with snapshots.
Thick volumes
- Users specify an amount of storage pool space to allocate to a thick volume.
- Good for users who want to pre-reserve space for specific needs.
- Slightly better performance than thin volumes.
Details
Thin volumes are recommended if you need to create multiple volumes and share the storage pool space efficiently between them. Thin volumes are also recommended if you plan to take snapshots of the volume. When taking snapshots of thin volumes, only modifications to existing data on the volume will increase the snapshot used space, and the size will be the same as the modified data.
Thick volumes are recommended if you are creating multiple volumes but need to guarantee a specific amount of space for one or more particular volumes. The performance of a thick volume is slightly better than a thin volume in some situations. Thick volumes are suitable for applications that require sufficient pre-configured space and uninterrupted service, such as surveillance systems and databases.
Further Reading
For details on the differences between thin and thick volumes, see "Thick, thin and static volumes" in the QTS User Guide.
