Low cost raid with seamless disk failure recovery
First Claim
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1. A method of managing disk drives in an array of disk drives, said method comprising the steps of:
- a) monitoring for an indication of a potential failure for each disk drive in an array of disk drives;
b) identifying an ailing drive responsive to a monitored said indication;
c) mirroring said ailing drive to a spare drive, a disk image being built of said ailing drive; and
d) providing a failing drive indication indicating that said ailing drive is failing, wherein mirroring continues after said ailing drive is replicated on said spare drive.
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Abstract
A storage subsystem such as an array of disk drives, method of managing disk drives in the storage subsystem and program product therefor. The storage subsystem may be a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) and the individual disks drives may be Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART) capable drives. When one of the drives gives an indication of an impending failure, a disk image of the failing disk is built on an available spare disk. Once the image is complete, the failing disk may be replaced without down time for rebuilding a failed disk.
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Citations
10 Claims
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1. A method of managing disk drives in an array of disk drives, said method comprising the steps of:
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a) monitoring for an indication of a potential failure for each disk drive in an array of disk drives; b) identifying an ailing drive responsive to a monitored said indication; c) mirroring said ailing drive to a spare drive, a disk image being built of said ailing drive; and d) providing a failing drive indication indicating that said ailing drive is failing, wherein mirroring continues after said ailing drive is replicated on said spare drive. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of managing disk drives in an array of disk drives, said method comprising the steps of:
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a) monitoring for an indication of a potential failure for each disk drive in an array of disk drives; b) identifying an ailing drive responsive to a monitored said indication; c) mirroring said ailing drive to a spare drive, a disk image being built of said ailing drive, mirroring said disk image comprising the steps of; i) identifying said spare disk from said array of disk drives as a crutch drive, and ii) mirroring said ailing drive to said crutch drive; and
after said disk image is completely built,d) providing a failing drive indication indicating that said ailing drive is failing, wherein mirroring continues after said ailing drive is replicated on said spare drive; and e) replacing said failing drive with a replacement drive, the replacement drive being identified as an available spare drive, whereby said ailing drive is seamlessly replaced on the fly.
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Specification