1. A distributed storage (DS) unit comprises: a plurality of memory devices for storing encoded data slices, wherein data segments of data are encoded using a dispersed storage error coding function to produce a plurality of sets of encoded data slices, wherein the stored encoded data slices includes one or more encoded data slices of at least some sets of the plurality of sets of encoded data slices, wherein the DS unit is assigned a local distributed storage network (DSN) address range, wherein a global DSN address space is divided into a plurality of address sectors, and wherein the local DSN address range is a portion of an address sector of the plurality of address sectors; and a processing module operably coupled to the plurality of memory devices, wherein the processing module is operable to: identify encoded data slices of the stored encoded data slices to transfer to produce identified encoded data slices; determine whether another DS unit has another local DSN address range in the address sector based on the global DSN address space; when the other DS unit has the other local DSN address range in the address sector, determine whether to transfer at least some of the identified encoded data slices to the other DS unit based on a DSN data protocol; and when the at least some of the identified encoded data slices are to be transferred to the other DS unit, initiate a data transfer protocol with the other DS unit.