Crossvolume

Crossvolume is a concept in data storage and management referring to operations and policies that operate across multiple storage volumes, where a volume is a distinct, addressable storage resource. Crossvolume operations enable data management tasks to span more than one volume, such as moving, copying, backing up, or deduplicating data that is distributed across volumes. In practice, crossvolume techniques appear in backup software that can roll up data from multiple disks, in file systems that present a single namespace over several volumes, or in storage arrays that coordinate policies across disks.

Key use cases include cross-volume copy or move during migration between disks, cross-volume snapshots that capture consistent states across volumes, and cross-volume deduplication that identifies and eliminates duplicates spanning volumes. Crossvolume capabilities are essential in large-scale environments where data growth exceeds the capacity of a single volume, or where performance and resilience are achieved by distributing data.

Implementation typically relies on an abstraction layer that presents a single view of multiple volumes, and on metadata that tracks object locations across volumes. Challenges include ensuring consistency during crossvolume operations, maintaining performance, and handling failures that span multiple volumes. Security considerations include access control across all participating volumes and preserving data integrity during transfers.

See also: distributed file system, volume management, cross-volume backup, multi-volume storage, data deduplication.