The embodiments of the invention provide a method, computer program product, etc. for risk-modulated proactive data migration for maximizing utility. More specifically, a method of planning data migration for maximizing utility of a storage infrastructure that is running and actively serving at least one application includes selecting a plurality of potential data items for migration and selecting a plurality of potential migration destinations to which the potential data items can be moved. Moreover, the method selects a plurality of potential migration speeds at which the potential data items can be moved and selects a plurality of potential migration times at which the potential data items can be moved to the potential data migration destinations. The selecting of the plurality of potential migration speeds selects a migration speed below a threshold speed, wherein the threshold speed defines a maximum system utility loss permitted.