diff --git a/engine/storage/datamotion/src/org/apache/cloudstack/storage/motion/AncientDataMotionStrategy.java b/engine/storage/datamotion/src/org/apache/cloudstack/storage/motion/AncientDataMotionStrategy.java
index 99f57142242..fa1dce45719 100644
--- a/engine/storage/datamotion/src/org/apache/cloudstack/storage/motion/AncientDataMotionStrategy.java
+++ b/engine/storage/datamotion/src/org/apache/cloudstack/storage/motion/AncientDataMotionStrategy.java
@@ -23,6 +23,9 @@ import java.util.Map;
 
 import javax.inject.Inject;
 
+import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
+import org.springframework.stereotype.Component;
+
 import org.apache.cloudstack.engine.subsystem.api.storage.ClusterScope;
 import org.apache.cloudstack.engine.subsystem.api.storage.CopyCommandResult;
 import org.apache.cloudstack.engine.subsystem.api.storage.DataMotionStrategy;
@@ -45,8 +48,6 @@ import org.apache.cloudstack.framework.async.AsyncCompletionCallback;
 import org.apache.cloudstack.framework.config.dao.ConfigurationDao;
 import org.apache.cloudstack.storage.command.CopyCommand;
 import org.apache.cloudstack.storage.image.datastore.ImageStoreEntity;
-import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
-import org.springframework.stereotype.Component;
 
 import com.cloud.agent.api.Answer;
 import com.cloud.agent.api.storage.MigrateVolumeAnswer;
@@ -192,9 +193,9 @@ public class AncientDataMotionStrategy implements DataMotionStrategy {
         }
     }
 
-    protected DataObject cacheSnapshotChain(SnapshotInfo snapshot) {
+    protected DataObject cacheSnapshotChain(SnapshotInfo snapshot, Scope scope) {
         DataObject leafData = null;
-        DataStore store = cacheMgr.getCacheStorage(snapshot.getDataStore().getScope());
+        DataStore store = cacheMgr.getCacheStorage(scope);
         while (snapshot != null) {
             DataObject cacheData = cacheMgr.createCacheObject(snapshot, store);
             if (leafData == null) {
@@ -205,6 +206,7 @@ public class AncientDataMotionStrategy implements DataMotionStrategy {
         return leafData;
     }
 
+
     protected void deleteSnapshotCacheChain(SnapshotInfo snapshot) {
         while (snapshot != null) {
             cacheMgr.deleteCacheObject(snapshot);
@@ -229,7 +231,8 @@ public class AncientDataMotionStrategy implements DataMotionStrategy {
         DataObject srcData = snapObj;
         try {
             if (!(storTO instanceof NfsTO)) {
-                srcData = cacheSnapshotChain(snapshot);
+                // cache snapshot to zone-wide staging store for the volume to be created
+                srcData = cacheSnapshotChain(snapshot, new ZoneScope(pool.getDataCenterId()));
             }
 
             String value = configDao.getValue(Config.CreateVolumeFromSnapshotWait.toString());
@@ -438,8 +441,8 @@ public class AncientDataMotionStrategy implements DataMotionStrategy {
         boolean needCache = false;
         if (needCacheStorage(srcData, destData)) {
             needCache = true;
-            SnapshotInfo snapshot = (SnapshotInfo)srcData;
-            srcData = cacheSnapshotChain(snapshot);
+            SnapshotInfo snapshot = (SnapshotInfo) srcData;
+            srcData = cacheSnapshotChain(snapshot, snapshot.getDataStore().getScope());
         }
 
         EndPoint ep = null;
diff --git a/server/src/com/cloud/storage/VolumeApiServiceImpl.java b/server/src/com/cloud/storage/VolumeApiServiceImpl.java
index 4de635c8ba5..e1d1c7c4750 100644
--- a/server/src/com/cloud/storage/VolumeApiServiceImpl.java
+++ b/server/src/com/cloud/storage/VolumeApiServiceImpl.java
@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@ import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
 
 import javax.inject.Inject;
 
+import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
+
 import org.apache.cloudstack.api.BaseCmd;
 import org.apache.cloudstack.api.command.user.volume.AttachVolumeCmd;
 import org.apache.cloudstack.api.command.user.volume.CreateVolumeCmd;
@@ -44,6 +46,7 @@ import org.apache.cloudstack.engine.subsystem.api.storage.HostScope;
 import org.apache.cloudstack.engine.subsystem.api.storage.PrimaryDataStoreInfo;
 import org.apache.cloudstack.engine.subsystem.api.storage.Scope;
 import org.apache.cloudstack.engine.subsystem.api.storage.SnapshotDataFactory;
+import org.apache.cloudstack.engine.subsystem.api.storage.SnapshotService;
 import org.apache.cloudstack.engine.subsystem.api.storage.StoragePoolAllocator;
 import org.apache.cloudstack.engine.subsystem.api.storage.TemplateDataFactory;
 import org.apache.cloudstack.engine.subsystem.api.storage.VolumeDataFactory;
@@ -72,7 +75,6 @@ import org.apache.cloudstack.storage.datastore.db.TemplateDataStoreDao;
 import org.apache.cloudstack.storage.datastore.db.VolumeDataStoreDao;
 import org.apache.cloudstack.storage.datastore.db.VolumeDataStoreVO;
 import org.apache.cloudstack.storage.image.datastore.ImageStoreEntity;
-import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
 
 import com.cloud.agent.AgentManager;
 import com.cloud.agent.api.Answer;
@@ -120,7 +122,6 @@ import com.cloud.storage.dao.SnapshotDao;
 import com.cloud.storage.dao.SnapshotPolicyDao;
 import com.cloud.storage.dao.StoragePoolHostDao;
 import com.cloud.storage.dao.StoragePoolWorkDao;
-import com.cloud.storage.dao.UploadDao;
 import com.cloud.storage.dao.VMTemplateDao;
 import com.cloud.storage.dao.VMTemplatePoolDao;
 import com.cloud.storage.dao.VolumeDao;
@@ -130,7 +131,6 @@ import com.cloud.storage.secondary.SecondaryStorageVmManager;
 import com.cloud.storage.snapshot.SnapshotApiService;
 import com.cloud.storage.snapshot.SnapshotManager;
 import com.cloud.storage.snapshot.SnapshotScheduler;
-import com.cloud.storage.upload.UploadMonitor;
 import com.cloud.tags.dao.ResourceTagDao;
 import com.cloud.template.TemplateManager;
 import com.cloud.user.Account;
@@ -317,9 +317,7 @@ public class VolumeApiServiceImpl extends ManagerBase implements VolumeApiServic
     @Inject
     SnapshotApiService snapshotMgr;
     @Inject
-    UploadMonitor _uploadMonitor;
-    @Inject
-    UploadDao _uploadDao;
+    SnapshotService snapshotSrv;
     @Inject
     UUIDManager _uuidMgr;
 
@@ -604,7 +602,10 @@ public class VolumeApiServiceImpl extends ManagerBase implements VolumeApiServic
 
             diskOfferingId = snapshotCheck.getDiskOfferingId();
             diskOffering = _diskOfferingDao.findById(diskOfferingId);
-            zoneId = snapshotCheck.getDataCenterId();
+            if (zoneId == null) {
+                // if zoneId is not provided, we default to create volume in the same zone as the snapshot zone.
+                zoneId = snapshotCheck.getDataCenterId();
+            }
             size = snapshotCheck.getSize(); // ; disk offering is used for tags
             // purposes
 
@@ -767,11 +768,15 @@ public class VolumeApiServiceImpl extends ManagerBase implements VolumeApiServic
     protected VolumeVO createVolumeFromSnapshot(VolumeVO volume, long snapshotId, Long vmId) throws StorageUnavailableException {
         VolumeInfo createdVolume = null;
         SnapshotVO snapshot = _snapshotDao.findById(snapshotId);
+        long snapshotVolId = snapshot.getVolumeId();
 
         UserVmVO vm = null;
         if (vmId != null) {
             vm = _userVmDao.findById(vmId);
         }
+
+        // sync old snapshots to region store if necessary
+
         createdVolume = _volumeMgr.createVolumeFromSnapshot(volume, snapshot, vm);
 
         UsageEventUtils.publishUsageEvent(EventTypes.EVENT_VOLUME_CREATE, createdVolume.getAccountId(), createdVolume.getDataCenterId(), createdVolume.getId(),