Time-based storage within a dispersed storage network

A dispersed storage (DS) module of a dispersed storage network (DSN), the DS module comprises:

• a first module, when operable within a computing device, causes the computing device to:
• obtain estimated future availability information for storage units of the DSN;
• a second module, when operable within the computing device, causes the computing device to:
• organize a plurality of sets of encoded data slices into a plurality of group-sets of encoded data slices, wherein a group-set of encoded data slices of the plurality of group-sets of encoded data slices includes multiple sets of encoded data slices of the plurality of sets of encoded data slices, wherein data is encoded in accordance with a dispersed storage error coding function to produce the plurality of sets of encoded data slices;
• a third module, when operable within the computing device, causes the computing device to:
• for each of the plurality of group-sets of encoded data slices, estimate an approximate storage completion time to produce a plurality of approximate storage completion times;
• obtain a write threshold number;
• and
• establish a time-availability pattern for writing the plurality of group-sets of encoded data slices to the storage units based on the estimated future availability information, the plurality of approximate storage completion times, and the write threshold number;
• and
• a fourth module, when operable within the computing device, causes the computing device to:
• send the plurality of group-sets of encoded data slices to at least some of the storage units for storage therein in accordance with the time-availability pattern.