Data record copy system for a disk drive array data storage subsystem
DCFirst Claim
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1. A disk memory system for storing data records for at least one data processor comprising:
- a plurality of disk drives;
means, responsive to the receipt of a stream of data records from said data processor, for selecting available memory space in said disk drives to store said received stream of data records thereon;
means for writing said received stream of data records in said selected available memory space;
means, responsive to said writing means, for generating a data record pointer for each of said data records in said stream of data records identifying the physical memory location of said data record;
means, responsive to the subsequent receipt of a data record copy request identifying one of said data records stored in said disk drives, for copying said identified data record including;
means for identifying the physical memory location of the requested data record as specified by its data record pointer,means for generating a data record pointer that is duplicative of said data record pointer as the data record pointer for said copy of said requested data record,means for identifying said duplicative data record pointer as a pointer to a copy of said requested data record, andmeans for maintaining data indicative that both said data record pointer and said duplicative data record pointer point to said requested data record.
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Abstract
The disk drive array data storage subsystem maps between virtual and physical data storage devices and schedules the writing of data to these devices. The data storage subsystem functions as a conventional large form factor disk drive memory, using an array of redundancy groups, each containing N+M disk drives. This system copies data records by simply creating a duplicate data record pointer in a virtual track directory to reference the original data record. This enables the host processor to access the data record via two virtual addresses while only a single physical copy of the data record resides in the data storage subsystem.
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Citations
40 Claims
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1. A disk memory system for storing data records for at least one data processor comprising:
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a plurality of disk drives; means, responsive to the receipt of a stream of data records from said data processor, for selecting available memory space in said disk drives to store said received stream of data records thereon; means for writing said received stream of data records in said selected available memory space; means, responsive to said writing means, for generating a data record pointer for each of said data records in said stream of data records identifying the physical memory location of said data record; means, responsive to the subsequent receipt of a data record copy request identifying one of said data records stored in said disk drives, for copying said identified data record including; means for identifying the physical memory location of the requested data record as specified by its data record pointer, means for generating a data record pointer that is duplicative of said data record pointer as the data record pointer for said copy of said requested data record, means for identifying said duplicative data record pointer as a pointer to a copy of said requested data record, and means for maintaining data indicative that both said data record pointer and said duplicative data record pointer point to said requested data record. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method in a disk memory system for storing data records for at least one data processor, wherein said disk memory system includes a plurality of disk drives, which selects, in response to the receipt of a stream of data records from said data processor, available memory space to store said received stream of data records thereon and writes said received stream of data records in said selected available memory space, said method comprising the steps of:
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generating a data record pointer for each of said data records in said stream of data records identifying the physical memory location of said data record; copying, in response to the subsequent receipt of a data record copy request identifying one of said data records stored in said disk drives, said identified data record including; identifying the physical memory location of the requested data record as specified by its data record pointer, generating a data record pointer that is duplicate of said data record pointer as the data record pointer for said copy of said requested data record, identifying said duplicative data record pointer as a pointer to a copy of said requested data record, and maintaining data indicative that both said data record pointer and said duplicative data record pointer point to said requested data record. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A disk memory system for storing data records that are accessible by at least one data processor comprising:
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a plurality of disk drives for storing data thereon, a number of said disk drives being configured into at least two redundancy groups, each said redundancy group including n+m of said plurality of disk drives, where n and m are both positive integers with n greater than 1 and m equal to or greater than 1; means for storing each stream of data records received from said data processor on successive ones of said n disk drives in a selected redundancy group; means, responsive to said storing means storing streams of data records on all n disk drives in said selected redundancy group, for generating m segments of data redundancy information for said data records stored on said n disk drives; means for writing said m segments of redundancy data on to said m disk drives of said selected redundancy group; means, responsive to said writing means, for generating a data record pointer for each of said data records in said stream of data records identifying the physical memory location of said data record in said redundancy group; means, responsive to the subsequent receipt of a data record copy request identifying one of said data records stored in one of said redundancy groups, for copying said identified data record, including; means for identifying the physical memory location of the requested data record as specified by its data record pointer, means for generating a data record pointer that is duplicate of said data record pointer as the data record pointer for said copy of said requested data record, means for identifying said duplicative data record pointer as a pointer to a copy of said requested data record, and means for maintaining data indicative that both said data record pointer and said duplicative data record pointer point to said requested data record. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A method in a disk memory system for storing data records that are accessible by at least one data processor, wherein said disk memory system includes a plurality of disk drives for storing data thereon, a number of said disk drives being configured into at least two redundancy groups, each said redundancy group including n+m of said plurality of disk drives, where n and m are both positive integers with n greater than 1 and m equal to or greater than 1, wherein each stream of data records received from said data processor are stored on successive ones of said n disk drives in a selected redundancy group and m segments of data redundancy information are generated for said data records stored on said n disk drives and said m segments of redundancy data are written on to said m disk drives of said selected redundancy group, said method comprising the steps of:
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generating a data record pointer for each of said data records in said stream of data records identifying the physical memory location of said data record in said redundancy group; copying, in response to the subsequent receipt of a data record copy request identifying one of said data records stored in one of said redundancy groups, said identified data record, including; identifying the physical memory location of the requested data record as specified by its associated data record pointer, generating a data record pointer that is duplicate of said data record pointer as the data record pointer for said copy of said requested data record, identifying said duplicative data record pointer as a pointer to a copy of said requested data record, and maintaining data indicative that both said data record pointer and said duplicative data record pointer point to said requested data record. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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Specification