A dispersed storage unit includes a physical memory and a storage unit control module. The physical memory is transferred to a receiving dispersed storage unit from a transferring dispersed storage unit, which used the transferred physical memory to store encoded data slices prior to the at least one physical memory being transferred. The encoded data slices stored on the transferred physical memory have addresses falling within a first address range. The storage control unit is configured to detect installation of the transferred physical memory, and to notify a dispersed storage network that data slices within the first address range are to be received by and retrieved from the receiving dispersed storage unit.