Disk drive array memory system using nonuniform disk drives
DCFirst Claim
1. A data storage system, having a plurality of disk drives each having a single set of at least two predefined data storage characteristics, for storing data records for at least one associated data processor, comprising:
- a controller, responsive to one of said disk drives having at least one of said at least two data storage characteristics different than a corresponding one of said at least two data storage characteristics of the remaining ones of said plurality of disk drives, for selecting a common disk drive format comprising a set of said data storage characteristics that are emulatable by all of said plurality of disk drives, comprising;
means for selecting at least one of said data storage characteristics,means for querying each said disk drive to determine a disk drive format, corresponding to said selected data storage characteristics, implemented on each of said disk drives,means for selecting a disk drive format, corresponding to said selected data storage characteristic, that is emulatable by each of said disk drives;
means for configuring said plurality of disk drives to match said selected common disk drive format; and
means, responsive to the receipt of a stream of data records from said associated data processor, for writing said received stream of data records in available memory space in one of said disk drives.
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Abstract
The data storage subsystem is implemented using an array of data storage elements which vary in data storage characteristics and/or data storage capacity. Control apparatus automatically compensates for any nonuniformity among the data storage elements by selecting a set of physical characteristics that define a common data storage element format. The selected set of physical characteristics may not match any of the disk drives but each disk drive can emulate these selected characteristics. This capability enables the disk drives in the data storage subsystem to be replaced by nonidentical disk drives in a nondisruptive manner to provide continuous data availability.
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Citations
48 Claims
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1. A data storage system, having a plurality of disk drives each having a single set of at least two predefined data storage characteristics, for storing data records for at least one associated data processor, comprising:
a controller, responsive to one of said disk drives having at least one of said at least two data storage characteristics different than a corresponding one of said at least two data storage characteristics of the remaining ones of said plurality of disk drives, for selecting a common disk drive format comprising a set of said data storage characteristics that are emulatable by all of said plurality of disk drives, comprising; means for selecting at least one of said data storage characteristics, means for querying each said disk drive to determine a disk drive format, corresponding to said selected data storage characteristics, implemented on each of said disk drives, means for selecting a disk drive format, corresponding to said selected data storage characteristic, that is emulatable by each of said disk drives; means for configuring said plurality of disk drives to match said selected common disk drive format; and means, responsive to the receipt of a stream of data records from said associated data processor, for writing said received stream of data records in available memory space in one of said disk drives. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. In a data storage system having a plurality of disk drives, each having a single set of at least two predefined data storage characteristics, a method for storing data records for at least one associated data processor comprising the steps of:
selecting, in response to one of said plurality of disk drives having at least one of said at least two data storage characteristics different than a corresponding one of said at least two data storage characteristics of the remaining ones of said plurality of disk drives, a common disk drive format comprising a set of said data storage characteristics that are emulatable by all of said plurality of disk drives, comprising; selecting at least one of said data storage characteristics, querying each said disk drive to determine a disk drive format, corresponding to said selected data storage characteristic, implemented on each of said disk drives, selecting a disk drive format, corresponding to said selected data storage characteristic, that is emulatable by each of said disk drives; configuring said disk drives to match said common disk drive format; and writing, in response to the receipt of a stream of data records from said associated data processor, said received stream of data records in available memory space in one of said plurality of disk drives. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A disk memory system for storing data records that are accessible by at least one associated data processor, comprising:
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a plurality of disk drives, each having a single set of at least two predefined data storage characteristics, 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; a controller, responsive to one of said disk drives in said redundancy group having at least one of said at least two data storage characteristics different than a corresponding one of said at least two data storage characteristics of the remaining disk drives in said redundancy group, for selecting a common disk drive format comprising a set of said data storage characteristics that are emulatable by all said disk drives in said redundancy group, comprising means for selecting at least one of said data storage characteristics, means for querying each said disk drive to determine a disk drive format, corresponding to said selected data storage characteristic, implemented on each of said disk drives, means for selecting a disk drive format, corresponding to said selected data storage characteristic, that is emulatable by each of said disk drives; means for configuring all said disk drives in said redundancy group to match said common disk drive format; means for storing each stream of data records received from said associated data processing devices 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 redundancy information for said data records stored on said n disk drives; and means for writing said m segments of redundancy information on to said m disk drives of said selected redundancy group. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. In a disk memory system having a plurally, of disk drives, each having a single set of at least two predefined data storage characteristics, for storing data thereon, a method of storing data records that are accessible by at least one associated data processor comprising the steps of:
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configuring a number of said disk drives 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; selecting, in response to one of said disk drives in said redundancy group having at least one of said at least two data storage characteristics different than a corresponding one of said at least two data storage characteristics of the remaining disk drives in said redundancy group, a common disk drive format comprising a set of said data storage characteristics that are emulatable by all said disk drives in said redundancy group, comprising; selecting at least one of said data storage characteristics, querying each said disk drive to determine a disk drive format, corresponding to said selected data storage characteristic, implemented on each of said disk drives, selecting a disk drive format, corresponding to said selected data storage characteristic, that it emulatable by each of said disk drives; configuring all said disk drives in said redundancy group to match said common disk drive format; storing each stream of data records received from said associated data processing devices on successive ones of said n disk drives in a selected redundancy group; generating, in response to storing streams of data records on all n disk drives in said selected redundancy group, m segments of redundancy information for said data records stored on said n disk drives; and writing said m segments of redundancy information on to said m disk drives of said selected redundancy group. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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Specification