When data in a FlexClone diverges from its parent, how is space usage tracked?

When data in a FlexClone diverges from its parent, how is space usage tracked?

• A. The parent volume reports all changes made in the clone.
• B. Both the parent and clone volumes share updated blocks equally.
• C. The clone volume consumes new physical space only for changed blocks.
• D. The clone volume must be manually deduplicated to reclaim space.

Answer: (C)

FlexClone uses copy-on-write blocks, so the clone initially shares all data with its parent. Space is tracked at the block level: only blocks that are modified in the clone are allocated as new, physical space for the clone. Unchanged blocks continue to reference the parent’s data, so they don’t consume extra space on the clone. When you write to the clone, the touched blocks are copied (or new blocks are allocated) on the clone, and that’s the space that grows. This is why the clone’s space usage increases only for changed blocks, not for blocks that remain identical to the parent.

FlexClone uses copy-on-write blocks, so the clone initially shares all data with its parent. Space is tracked at the block level: only blocks that are modified in the clone are allocated as new, physical space for the clone. Unchanged blocks continue to reference the parent’s data, so they don’t consume extra space on the clone. When you write to the clone, the touched blocks are copied (or new blocks are allocated) on the clone, and that’s the space that grows. This is why the clone’s space usage increases only for changed blocks, not for blocks that remain identical to the parent.