Patent ID: 7716420

Claim:
A method for convening an existing traditional volume into a flexible volume, the existing traditional volume having a first address space that contains a plurality of files and metadata files containing information related to each of the plurality of files, the method comprising: providing, by a storage server, an additional volume having a second address space that contains a number of data blocks; creating a flexible volume in the additional volume; storing metadata on the flexible volume to describe at least one of the plurality of files on the traditional volume; storing a representative value in the flexible volume metadata describing each of the at least one of the plurality of files to indicate that the physical address information is absent as a result of omitting the physical address information; and extending the second address space to include the at least one of the plurality of files on the traditional volume, such that each of the at least one of the plurality of files has an address in the second address space, wherein the address in the second address space is derived from an address in the first address space plus the number of data blocks in the second address space.