Data access in a dispersed storage network with consistency

A processing system comprises:

• a memory that stores operational instructions;
• and
• processing circuitry configured to execute the operational instructions, wherein the operational instructions cause the processing circuitry to perform operations including:
• receiving a data access request having a consistency indicator;
• identifying a set of two or more storage targets associated with the data access request, wherein each storage target of the set of two or more storage targets includes at least a decode threshold number of storage units;
• selecting a threshold number of storage targets of the set of two or more storage targets, based on the consistency indicator;
• accessing the selected threshold number of storage targets based on the data access request;
• generating a data access response, based on the accessing of the selected threshold number of storage targets;
• transferring a range of encoded data slices from a first storage unit of the storage units to a second storage unit of the storage units;
• and
• in response to the transferring the range of encoded data slices from the first storage unit to the second storage unit, transferring a corresponding range of second encoded data slices from a third storage unit of the storage units to a fourth storage unit of the storage units, wherein the second encoded data slices have a second common addressing component within addresses of the second encoded data slices, wherein the third storage unit stores a first sub-set of the second encoded data slices and the fourth storage unit stores a second sub-set of the second encoded data slices, wherein the range of second encoded data slices includes at least some of the first sub-set of the second encoded data slices, and wherein the range of second encoded data slices is identified by a second corresponding slice address range that includes a range of the addresses of the at least some of the first sub-set of the second encoded data slices.

A tangible computer readable storage medium comprises:

• at least one memory section that stores operational instructions that, when executed by a processing system that includes a processor and a memory, causes the processing system to perform operations including:
• receiving a data access request having a consistency indicator;
• identifying a set of two or more storage targets associated with the data access request, wherein each storage target of the set of two or more storage targets includes at least a decode threshold number of storage units;
• selecting a threshold number of storage targets of the set of two or more storage targets, based on the consistency indicator;
• accessing the selected threshold number of storage targets based on the data access request;
• and
• generating a data access response, based on the accessing of the selected threshold number of storage targets;
• transferring a range of encoded data slices from a first storage unit of the storage units to a second storage unit of the storage units;
• and
• in response to the transferring the range of encoded data slices from the first storage unit to the second storage unit, transferring a corresponding range of second encoded data slices from a third storage unit of the storage units to a fourth storage unit of the storage units, wherein the second encoded data slices have a second common addressing component within addresses of the second encoded data slices, wherein the third storage unit stores a first sub-set of the second encoded data slices and the fourth storage unit stores a second sub-set of the second encoded data slices, wherein the range of second encoded data slices includes at least some of the first sub-set of the second encoded data slices, and wherein the range of second encoded data slices is identified by a second corresponding slice address range that includes a range of the addresses of the at least some of the first sub-set of the second encoded data slices.