diff --git a/engine/storage/datamotion/src/main/java/org/apache/cloudstack/storage/motion/AncientDataMotionStrategy.java b/engine/storage/datamotion/src/main/java/org/apache/cloudstack/storage/motion/AncientDataMotionStrategy.java
index bc49a53db581..a5b01c70679c 100644
--- a/engine/storage/datamotion/src/main/java/org/apache/cloudstack/storage/motion/AncientDataMotionStrategy.java
+++ b/engine/storage/datamotion/src/main/java/org/apache/cloudstack/storage/motion/AncientDataMotionStrategy.java
@@ -330,8 +330,9 @@ protected Answer copyVolumeBetweenPools(DataObject srcData, DataObject destData)
             // directly to s3
             ImageStoreEntity imageStore = (ImageStoreEntity)dataStoreMgr.getImageStoreWithFreeCapacity(destScope.getScopeId());
             if (imageStore == null || !imageStore.getProtocol().equalsIgnoreCase("nfs") && !imageStore.getProtocol().equalsIgnoreCase("cifs")) {
-                s_logger.debug("can't find a nfs (or cifs) image store to satisfy the need for a staging store");
-                return null;
+                String errMsg = "can't find a nfs (or cifs) image store to satisfy the need for a staging store";
+                Answer answer = new Answer(null, false, errMsg);
+                return answer;
             }
 
             DataObject objOnImageStore = imageStore.create(srcData);