T

Thin Provisioning

Definition

Thin provisioning is a storage virtualization technique that allocates disk space on demand rather than pre-allocating the full requested capacity. A 1 TB thin-provisioned volume initially consumes near-zero physical space and grows as data is written. This enables overcommitment of storage capacity, improving utilization from typical 30-40% to 70-80%. Thin provisioning is standard in modern SAN arrays and virtual machine datastores.

Daniel Kovacs
Written by
Daniel Kovacs
Updated Feb 11, 2026

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