| Patent application number | Description | Published |
| 20080282105 | DATA INTEGRITY VALIDATION IN STORAGE SYSTEMS - Data validation systems and methods are provided. Data is recorded in N data chunks on one or more storage mediums. A first validation chunk independently associated with said N data chunks comprises first validation information for verifying accuracy of data recorded in said N data chunks. The first validation chunk is associated with a first validation appendix comprising second validation information, wherein the first validation appendix is stored on a first storage medium independent of said one or more storage mediums. | 11-13-2008 |
| 20090055584 | DETECTION AND CORRECTION OF DROPPED WRITE ERRORS IN A DATA STORAGE SYSTEM - Method, system and computer program product are provided for detecting and correcting dropped writes in a storage system. Data and a checksum are written to a storage device, such as a RAID array. The state of the data is classified as being in a “new data, unconfirmed” state. The state of written data is periodically checked, such as with a timer. If the data is in the “new data, unconfirmed” state, it is checked for a dropped write. If a dropped write has occurred, the state of the data is changed to a “single dropped write confirmed” state and the dropped write error is preferably corrected. If no dropped write is detected, the state is changed to a “confirmed good” state. If the data was updated through a read-modified-write prior to being checked for a dropped write event, its state is changed to an “unquantifiable” state. | 02-26-2009 |
| 20090055688 | DETECTION AND CORRECTION OF DROPPED WRITE ERRORS IN A DATA STORAGE SYSTEM - Methods are provided for detecting and correcting dropped writes in a storage system. Data and a checksum are written to a storage device, such as a RAID array. The state of the data is classified as being in a “new data, unconfirmed” state. The state of written data is periodically checked, such as with a timer. If the data is in the “new data, unconfirmed” state, it is checked for a dropped write. If a dropped write has occurred, the state of the data is changed to a “single dropped write confirmed” state and the dropped write error is preferably corrected. If no dropped write is detected, the state is, changed to a “confirmed good” state. If the data was updated through a read-modified-write prior to being checked for a dropped write event, its state is changed to an “unquantifiable” state. | 02-26-2009 |
| 20090177918 | STORAGE REDUNDANT ARRAY OF INDEPENDENT DRIVES - A computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer usable program product for managing redundant array of independent drives. In response to a failure of a hard disk in a first RAID array, the process calculates an amount of free capacity available across a set of remaining hard disks in the first RAID array. The set of remaining hard disks comprises every hard disk associated with the first RAID array except the failed disk. In response to a determination that the amount of free capacity is sufficient to re-create the first RAID array at a same RAID level, the process reconstructs the first RAID array using an amount of space in the set of remaining drives utilized by the first RAID array and the free capacity to form a new RAID array without utilizing a spare hard disk. | 07-09-2009 |
| 20100217752 | DATA INTEGRITY VALIDATION IN STORAGE SYSTEMS - Data validation systems and methods are provided. Data is recorded in N data chunks on one or more storage mediums. A first validation chunk independently associated with said N data chunks comprises first validation information for verifying accuracy of data recorded in said N data chunks. The first validation chunk is associated with a first validation appendix comprising second validation information, wherein the first validation appendix is stored on a first storage medium independent of said one or more storage mediums. | 08-26-2010 |
| 20100251072 | DETECTION AND CORRECTION OF DROPPED WRITE ERRORS IN A DATA STORAGE SYSTEM - A RAID system is provided for detecting and correcting dropped writes in a storage system. Data and a checksum are written to a storage device, such as a RAID array. The state of the data is classified as being in a “new data, unconfirmed” state. The state of written data is periodically checked, such as with a timer. If the data is in the “new data, unconfirmed” state, it is checked for a dropped write. If a dropped write has occurred, the state of the data is changed to a “single dropped write confirmed” state and the dropped write error is preferably corrected. If no dropped write is detected, the state is changed to a “confirmed good” state. If the data was updated through a read-modified-write prior to being checked for a dropped write event, its state is changed to an “unquantifiable” state. | 09-30-2010 |
| 20110208912 | FULL-STRIPE-WRITE PROTOCOL FOR MAINTAINING PARITY COHERENCY IN A WRITE-BACK DISTRIBUTED REDUNDANCY DATA STORAGE SYSTEM - Data storage reliability is maintained in a write-back distributed data storage system including multiple nodes. Information is stored as a stripe including a collection of a data strips and associated parity strips, the stripe distributed across data and parity nodes. Each data node maintains the data strip holding a first copy of data, and each parity node maintains a parity strip holding a parity for the collection of data strips. A driver node initiates a full-stripe-write parity update protocol for maintaining parity coherency in conjunction with other nodes, to keep the relevant parity strips coherent. Parity is determined directly by computing parity strips for all data strips of a stripe. Any node may function as a driver node. | 08-25-2011 |
| 20110208994 | REBUILDING LOST DATA IN A DISTRIBUTED REDUNDANCY DATA STORAGE SYSTEM - Rebuilding lost data in a distributed redundancy data storage system including multiple nodes, is provided. User data is stored as a collection of stripes, each stripe comprising a collection of data strips and associated parity strips, the stripes distributed across multiple corresponding data owner nodes and multiple corresponding parity owner nodes. A data owner node maintains the associated data strip holding a first copy of data, and a parity owner node maintains a parity strip holding a parity for the collection of data strips. Upon detecting a failure condition, the owner node initiates a rebuilding protocol for recovery of lost data and/or parity it owns. The protocol includes reconstruction of lost data or parity by a computation involving data and/or parity from a recovery strip set in a stripe, wherein a recovery strip set contains at least one surviving data or parity strip. The recovery strip set for a lost data strip contains at least one surviving parity strip. | 08-25-2011 |
| 20110208995 | READ-MODIFY-WRITE PROTOCOL FOR MAINTAINING PARITY COHERENCY IN A WRITE-BACK DISTRIBUTED REDUNDANCY DATA STORAGE SYSTEM - Data storage reliability is maintained in a write-back distributed data storage system including multiple nodes, each node comprising a processor and an array of failure independent data storage devices. Information is stored as a set of stripes, each stripe including a collection of multiple data strips and associated parity strips, the stripes distributed across multiple corresponding primary data nodes and multiple corresponding parity nodes. A primary data node maintains the data strip holding a first copy of data, and each parity node maintains a parity strip holding a parity for the multiple data strips. A read-modify-write parity update protocol is performed for maintaining parity coherency, the primary data node driving parity coherency with its corresponding parity nodes, independently of other data nodes, in order to keep its relevant parity strips coherent. | 08-25-2011 |
| 20110208996 | READ-OTHER PROTOCOL FOR MAINTAINING PARITY COHERENCY IN A WRITE-BACK DISTRIBUTED REDUNDANCY DATA STORAGE SYSTEM - Data storage reliability is maintained in a write-back distributed data storage system including multiple nodes. Each node comprises a processor and an array of failure independent data storage devices. Information is stored as a set of stripes, each stripe including a collection of at least a data strip and associated parity strips, the stripes distributed across a primary data node and multiple corresponding parity nodes. A read-other parity update protocol maintains parity coherency. The primary data node for each data strip drives parity coherency with the corresponding parity nodes, independently of other data nodes, in keeping relevant parity strips for the primary data node coherent. A parity value is determined based on data other than a difference between new data and existing data. A new parity value is based on new data and dependent data, wherein with respect to one data value, dependent data comprises other data encoded in a corresponding parity value. | 08-25-2011 |