Parallel drive array storage system

Claim 2

A parallel array Winchester disk drive storage system comprising: at least three substantially standard hard disk drive storage units; means for mounting said disk drive units side-by-side; master controller means for controlling the operation of said disk drives to store digital data in said drives and to route data and instructions between a host computer and said disk drives; means for storing data in more than one-half of said drives, and means for storing parity check data relating to the data stored in said drives in at least one of the other of said drives; means for regenerating erroneous or missing data from any one of said drives from the parity check drive data, and/or data from the other drives in said group, in an on-line basis; means for identifying a malfunctioning one of said drives; means for powering down said malfunctioning drive; means for removing any single drive unit from said system and substituting a different drive unit into said system while the system remains on line; means for storing digital information onto the new drive which is substituted for the malfunctioning drive, using said regenerated data; and said controlling means including means for storing data on said drives in terms of successive bytes or groups of bits from the host computer being successively applied to successive ones of said drives.

Claim 3

A storage system as defined in claim 1 wherein drive formatter means are provided for coupling said master controller means to each of said drives.

Claim 4

A storage system as defined in claim 2 wherein said storage system includes a housing, and wherein each disk drive and associated formatter unit is mounted on means for guiding the drive and formatter into said housing, and mating connector means are provided on said housing and on each said drive and associated formatter, to automatically connect and disconnect each said drive and formatter into the system as they are guided into and removed from said housing, respectively.

Claim 5

A storage system as defined in claim 1 wherein said controlling means stores data on said drives in terms of successive bytes of information of eight bits each, being supplied to successive drives.

Claim 6

A storage system as defined in claim 1 wherein a control and signalling panel is provided, including signal light means for indicating the status of the system, control switches for controlling the mode of operation of the system, alphanumeric display means for providing diagnostic information, and a keyboard for applying control signals to the system.

Claim 7

A storage system ad defined in claim 5 wherein a removable cover for the front of the system is provided, and means are provided for permitting viewing of the signal lights when the cover is in place covering the front of the drives and the control and signalling panel.

Claim 8

A storage system as defined in claim 5 wherein means are provided for mounting said panel in front of at least one of said drives, and means are provided for shifting said panel away from the front of any of said drives while maintaining said panel operatively coupled to said system, to permit removal and replacement of said drives.

Claim 9

A storage system as defined in claim 1 wherein said system includes five drives, of which four are included in said group of drives and wherein there is one parity drive.

Claim 10

A storage system as defined in claim 1 as defined in claim 1 further comprising means for synchronizing the angular rotation of all of said drives from a signal supplied by said master controller means.

Claim 11

A storage system as defined in claim 1 wherein said system includes a housing having a height of approximately seven inches and a transverse width of approximately seventeen inches to fit in standard nineteen inch spacing racks, and wherein said standard disk drives are removably mounted, side-by-side with the axes of the disk drives being generally horizontal, within said housing.

Claim 12

A storage system as defined in claim 1 wherein said system includes means for transferring data in parallel to the multiple drives, thereby increasing the data rate of the system.

Claim 13

A storage system as defined in claim 1 including means for providing SCSI commands to the master controller means from the host data processor, and means for initially processing partial SCSI commands relating to data transfer, and relaying head positioning instructions to the drives, to speed up system response.

Claim 16

A method as defined in claim 13 wherein the supplying of regenerated digital information to the new drive is accomplished while the system is on-line, between requests from the host data processor for data transfer.

Claim 17

A method as defined in claim 13 wherein commands from the host data processor to the storage system are in a lengthy digital command format, with data transfer information, if any, being included in an early portion of such commands, the method including the steps of decoding the data transfer portion of commands as they received by the storage system, and initiating shifting of the magnetic head position of the drives to the indicated position before the complete command had been processed, to speed up the response of the system.

Claim 18

A method as defined in claim 13 including the additional step of synchronizing the angular rotation of each of the drives from index signals supplied by the master controller.

Claim 19

A parallel array Winchester disk drive storage system comprising: at least three substantially standard Winchester type disk drive storage units; means for mounting said disk drive units adjacent one-another; master controller means for controlling the operation of said disk drives to store digital data in said drives and to route data and instructions between a host computer and said disk drives; means for storing data in a group of more than one-half of said drives, and means for storing parity check data relating to the data stored in said group of drives in at least one of said drives not included in said group drives; means for regenerating erroneous or missing data from any one of said group of driven from the parity check drive data, and data from the other drives in said group; said controlling means including means for storing data on said drives in terms of successive bytes or groups of bits from the host computer being successively applied to successive ones of said group of drives; and means for synchronizing the angular rotation of all of said drives from a signal supplied by said master controller means.

Claim 20

A parallel array Winchester disk drive storage system comprising: at least three substantially standard Winchester type disk drive storage units; means for mounting said disk drive units adjacent one-another; master controller means for controlling the operation of said disk drives to store digital data in said drives and to route data and instructions between a host computer and said disk drives; means for storing data in a group of more than one-half of said drives, and means for storing parity check data relating to the data stored in said group of drives in at least one of said drives not included in said group drives; means for regenerating erroneous or missing data from any one of said group of driven from the parity check drive data, and data from the other drives in said group; said controlling means including means for storing data on said drives in terms of successive bytes or groups of bits from the host computer being successively applied to successive ones of said group of drives; and means for synchronizing the angular rotation of all of said drives from a signal supplied by said master controller means.

Claim 21

A storage system as defined in claim 17 wherein said controlling means stores data on said drives in terms of successive bytes of information of eight bits each, being supplied to successive drives in said group of drives.

Claim 22

A storage system as defined in claim 17 wherein a control and signalling panel is provided, including signal light means for indicating the status of the system, control switches for controlling the mode of operation of the system, alphanumeric display means for providing diagnostic information, and a keyboard for applying control signals to the system.

Claim 23

A storage system as defined in claim 19 wherein means are provided for mounting said panel in front of at least one of said drives, and means are provided for shifting said panel away from the front of any of said drives while maintaining said panel operatively coupled to said system, to permit removal and replacement of said drives.

Claim 24

A storage system as defined in claim 17 wherein said system includes five drives, of which four re included in said group of drives and wherein there is one parity drive.

Claim 25

A storage system as defined in claim 17 including means for providing commands to the master controller means from the host data processor, said commands having a lengthy format including data transfer information, if any, in an early portion of said command, and means for initially processing the portion of the commands relating to data transfer, and relaying head positioning instructions to the drives, to speed up system response.

Claim 26

A parallel array Winchester disk drive storage system comprising: at least three Winchester type disk drive units; means for mounting said disk drive units adjacent one-another; master controller means for controlling the operation of said disk drives to store digital data in said drives and to route data and instructions between a host computer and said disk drives; means for storing data in a group of more than one-half of said drives, and means for storing parity check data relating to the data stored in said group of drives in at least one of said drives not included in said group of drives; means for regenerating erroneous or missing data from any one of said group of drives from the parity check drive data, and data from the other drives in said group; said controlling means including means for storing data on said drives in terms of successive bytes or groups of bits from the host computer being successively applied to successive ones of said group of drives; and means for providing commands to the master controller means from the host data processor, said commands having a lengthy format including data transfer information, if any, in an early portion of said command, and means for initially processing the portion of the commands relating to data transfer, and relaying head positioning instructions to the drives, to speed up system response.

Claim 27

A parallel array Winchester disk drive storage system comprising: at least three Winchester type disk drive units; means for mounting said disk drive units adjacent one-another; master controller means for controlling the operation of said disk drives to store digital data in said drives and to route data and instructions between a host computer and said disk drives; means for storing data in a group of more than one-half of said drives, and means for storing parity check data relating to the data stored in said group of drives in at least one of said drives not included in said group of drives; means for regenerating erroneous or missing data from any one of said group of drives from the parity check drive data, and data from the other drives in said group; said controlling means including means for storing data on said drives in terms of successive bytes or groups of bits from the host computer being successively applied to successive ones of said group of drives; and means for providing commands to the master controller means from the host data processor, said commands having a lengthy format including data transfer information, if any, in an early portion of said command, and means for initially processing the portion of the commands relating to data transfer, and relaying head positioning instructions to the drives, to speed up system response.

Claim 28

A parallel array Winchester disk drive storage system comprising: at least three Winchester type disk drive units; means for mounting said disk drive units adjacent one-another; master controller means for controlling the operation of said disk drives to store digital data in said drives and to route data and instructing between a host computer and said disk drives; means for storing data in a group of more than one-half of said drives, and means for storing parity check data relating to the data stored in said group of drives in at least one of said drives not included in said group of drives; means for regenerating erroneous or missing data from any one of said group of drives from the parity check drive data, and data from the other drives in said group; said controlling means including means for storing data on said drives in terms of successive bytes or groups of bits from the host computer being successively applied to successive ones of said group of drives; said system including drive formatter means for coupling said master controller means to each of said drives; and said system including a housing, and each disk drive and associated formatter unit being mounted on means for guiding the drive and formatter into said housing, and mating connector means on said housing and on each drive and associated formatter, to automatically connect and disconnect each said drive and formatter into the system as they are guided into and removed from said housing, respectively.

Claim 29

A parallel array Winchester disk drive storage system comprising: at least three Winchester type disk drive units; means for mounting said disk drive units adjacent one-another; master controller means for controlling the operation of said disk drives to store digital data in said drives and to route data and instructing between a host computer and said disk drives; means for storing data in a group of more than one-half of said drives, and means for storing parity check data relating to the data stored in said group of drives in at least one of said drives not included in said group of drives; means for regenerating erroneous or missing data from any one of said group of drives from the parity check drive data, and data from the other drives in said group; said controlling means including means for storing data on said drives in terms of successive bytes or groups of bits from the host computer being successively applied to successive ones of said group of drives; said system including drive formatter means for coupling said master controller means to each of said drives; and said system including a housing, and each disk drive and associated formatter unit being mounted on means for guiding the drive and formatter into said housing, and mating connector means on said housing and on each drive and associated formatter, to automatically connect and disconnect each said drive and formatter into the system as they are guided into and removed from said housing, respectively.

Claim 30

A system as defined in claim 24 including means for replacing any single drive in said system while the system remains on line.

Claim 31

A storage system as defined in claim 24 wherein a control and signalling panel is provided, including signal light means for indicating the status of the system, control switches for controlling the mode of operation of the system, alphanumeric display means for providing diagnostic information, and a keyboard for applying control signals to the system.

Claim 32

A storage system as defined in claim 26 wherein means are provided for mounting said panel in front of at least one of said drives, and means are provided for shifting said panel away from the front of any of said drives while maintaining said panel operatively coupled to said system, to permit removal and replacement of said drives.

Claim 33

A storage system as defined in claim 24 wherein said system includes five drives, of which four are included in said group of drives and wherein there is one parity drive.

Claim 34

A storage system as defined in claim 24 as defined in claim 1 further comprising means for synchronizing the angular rotation of all of said drives from a signal supplied by said master controller means.

Claim 35

A storage system as claimed in claim 24 including means for providing commands to the master controller means from the host data processor, said commands having a lengthy format including data transfer information, if any, in an early portion of said command, and means for initially processing the portion of the commands relating to data transfer, and relaying head positioning instructions to the drives, to speed up system response.

Claim 36

A parallel array Winchester disk drive storage system comprising: at least three substantially standard Winchester type disk drive storage units; means for mounting said disk drive units adjacent one-another; master controller means for controlling the operation of said disk drives to store digital data in said drives and to route data and instructions between a host computer and said disk drives; means for storing data in a group of more than one-half of said drives, and means for storing parity check data relating to the data stored in said group of drives in at least one of said drives not included in said group drives; means for regenerating erroneous or missing data from any one of of said group of drives from the parity check drive data, and data from the other drives in said group; said controlling means including means for storing data on said drives in terms of successive bytes or groups of bits from the host computer being successively applied to successive ones of said group of drives; means for synchronising the angular rotation of all of said drives from a signal supplied by said master controller means; and drive formatter means for coupling said master controller means to each of said drives.

Claim 37

A parallel array Winchester disk drive storage system comprising: at least three substantially standard Winchester type disk drive storage units; means for mounting said disk drive units adjacent one-another; master controller means for controlling the operation of said disk drives to store digital data in said drives and to route data and instructions between a host computer and said disk drives; means for storing data in a group of more than one-half of said drives, and means for storing parity check data relating to the data stored in said group of drives in at least one of said drives not included in said group drives; means for regenerating erroneous or missing data from any one of of said group of drives from the parity check drive data, and data from the other drives in said group; said controlling means including means for storing data on said drives in terms of successive bytes or groups of bits from the host computer being successively applied to successive ones of said group of drives; means for synchronising the angular rotation of all of said drives from a signal supplied by said master controller means; and drive formatter means for coupling said master controller means to each of said drives.

Claim 38

A storage system as defined in claim 31 wherein said storage system includes a housing, and wherein each disk drive and associated formatter unit is mounted on means for guiding the drive and formatter into said housing, and mating connector means are provided on said housing and on each said drive and associated formatter, to automatically connect and disconnect each said drive and formatter into the system as they are guided into and removed from said housing, respectively.