A method of migrating a network file copy (NFC) operation from a first host computing device to a second host computing device includes the steps of: transmitting a first request to the first host computing device to execute the NFC operation, wherein the NFC operation comprises transferring data from a shared datastore to another datastore; after transmitting the first request, selecting the second host computing device to complete the NFC operation in place of the first host computing device, and transmitting a second request to the first host computing device to stop executing the NFC operation; after transmitting the second request, detecting a message indicating that the first host computing device completed the copying of a first portion of the data; and in response to the detection of the message, transmitting a third request to the second host computing device to perform the remainder of the NFC operation.