Release Notes

10 Dell PS Series Snapshots and Clones: Best Practices and Sizing Guidelines | BP1027
3.2 Clone volumes
A clone volume is a full copy of an existing volume. The clone volume has the same reported size, contents,
and thin-provision settings as the original volume. A clone volume can be created from a regular volume, a
specific replica of a volume, or a specific snapshot of a volume. A thin clone can also be created from a
template volume. Thin clones are sub-volumes of template volumes where the template is a read-only version
of the volume at a specific point in time. Clone volumes are often used for data protection purposes; either to
enable fast recovery of files or as a source for backup to tape or disk-to-disk backup operations. Clone
volumes can also be used for testing and development purposes with less impact to the production
environment.
The next figure shows a base volume with three clone volumes from different points in time. Each clone
volume is a copy of the base volume, but completely independent of the base volume.
Independent point-in-time images of the source volume