1. A method comprises: receiving a data retrieval request to retrieve data, wherein the data is segmented into a plurality of data segments and respective data segments are encoded into a plurality of encoded data slices and stored in different dispersed storage (DS) units of a plurality of DS units of a dispersed storage network, in which respective numbered slices of the plurality of data segments are stored in a same DS unit of the plurality of DS units, and wherein only a threshold number of encoded data slices for a particular data segment are needed to recover the particular data segment; determining based on an access policy which of the plurality of DS units storing the encoded data slices of the data segments are available for access to retrieve the encoded data slices for day and time corresponding to the data retrieval request; determining if a requestor or a requesting device requesting the data retrieval has authorized access to the plurality of DS units; accessing available DS units to retrieve the encoded data slices from the available DS units based on the access policy, provided the requestor or requesting device requesting the data retrieval has the authorized access; and retrieving a threshold number of encoded data slices from the available DS units for each of the data segments to recover the data.