Disk drive memory

Claim 2

A disk memory system for storing data files for associated data processing devices comprising: a plurality of disk drives; means for assigning a subset of said plurality of disk drives into two or more parity groups, each parity group consisting of two or more disk drives; means responsive to the receipt of a data file from said associated data processing devices for selecting one of said parity groups to store said data file thereon; means for writing said received data file and parity data associated with said received data file in segments across said two or more disk drives in said selected parity group; means for reserving one or more of said plurality of disk drives as backup disk drives, which backup disk drives are shared in common by said two or more parity groups; means for identifying one of said disk drives in said subset that fails to function; and means responsive to said identifying means for switchably connecting one of said backup disk drives in place of said identified failed disk drive.

Claim 3

The system of claim 1 further including: means for reconstructing the segment of said data file written on said identified failed disk drive, using said associated parity data.

Claim 4

The system of claim 2 further including: means for writing said reconstructed segment of said data file on to said one backup disk drive.

Claim 5

The system of claim 2 wherein said reconstructing means includes: means for generating said segment written on said identified failed disk drive using said associated parity data and the remainder of said data file.

Claim 6

The system of claim 1 wherein said writing means includes: means for dividing said data file into two or more segments; and means for generating parity data for said segmented data file.

Claim 7

The system of claim 5 wherein said writing means further includes: means for writing each of said segments and said parity data on to a different one of said two or more disk drives in said selected parity group.

Claim 8

The system of claim 1 further including: means for maintaining data indicative of the correspondence between said data file and the identity said two or more disk drives in said selected parity group.

Claim 9

The system of claim 1 further including: means responsive to a request for said data file from one of said associated data processing devices for reconstruct said segments of said data file.

Claim 10

The system of claim 8 further including: means responsive to said concatenating means for transmitting said concatenated segments of said data file to said requesting data processing device.

Claim 13

The method of claim 10 further including the step of: reconstructing the segment of said data file written on said identified failed disk drive, using said associated parity data.

Claim 14

The method of claim 11 further including the step of: writing said reconstructed segment of said data file on to said one backup disk drive.

Claim 15

The method of claim 11 wherein said step of reconstructing includes the steps of: generating said segment written on said identified failed disk drive using said associated parity data and the remainder of said data file.

Claim 16

The method of claim 11 wherein said step of writing includes the steps of: dividing said data file into one or more segments; and generating parity data for said segmented data file.

Claim 17

The method of claim 14 wherein said step of writing further includes the step of: writing each of said segments and said parity data on to a different one of said two or more disk drives in said selected parity group.

Claim 18

The method of claim 10 further including the step of: maintaining data indicative of the correspondence between said data file and the identity said two or more disk drives in said selected parity group.

Claim 19

The method of claim 10 further including the step of: concatenating, in response to a request for said data file from one of said associated data processing devices, said segments of said data file.

Claim 20

The method of claim 17 further including the step of: transmitting said concatenated segments of said data file to said requesting data processing device.

Claim 21

A disk memory system for storing data files for associated data processing devices comprising: a plurality of disk drives; means for reserving one or more of said plurality of disk drives as backup disk drives, which backup disk drives are shared in common by said parity groups; means for assigning a subset of said disk drives into two or more parity groups, each parity group consisting of two or more disk drives; means responsive to the receipt of one of said data files from said associated data processing devices for selecting one of said parity groups to store said received data file thereon; means responsive to said selecting means for writing said received data file and parity data associated with said received data file across said two or more disk drives in said selected parity group; means for identifying one of said two or more disk drives in said parity group that fails to function; means for switchably connecting one of said backup disk drives in place of said identified failed disk drive.

Claim 22

A disk memory system for storing data files for associated data processing devices comprising: a plurality of disk drives; means for reserving one or more of said plurality of disk drives as backup disk drives, which backup disk drives are shared in common by said parity groups; means for assigning a subset of said disk drives into two or more parity groups, each parity group consisting of two or more disk drives; means responsive to the receipt of one of said data files from said associated data processing devices for selecting one of said parity groups to store said received data file thereon; means responsive to said selecting means for writing said received data file and parity data associated with said received data file across said two or more disk drives in said selected parity group; means for identifying one of said two or more disk drives in said parity group that fails to function; means for switchably connecting one of said backup disk drives in place of said identified failed disk drive.

Claim 23

The system of claim 19 further including: means for reconstructing the segment of said data file written on said identified failed disk drive, using said associated parity data.

Claim 24

The system of claim 20 further including: means for writing said reconstructed segment of said data file on to said one backup disk drive.

Claim 25

The system of claim 20 wherein said reconstructing means includes: means for generating said segment written on said identified failed disk drive using said associated parity data and the remainder of said data file.

Claim 26

The system of claim 21 wherein said writing means includes: means for dividing said data file into one or more segments; and means for generating parity data for said segmented data file.

Claim 27

The system of claim 23 wherein said writing means further includes: means for writing each of said segments and said parity data on to a different one of said two or more disk drives in said selected parity group.

Claim 28

The system of claim 19 further including: means for maintaining data indicative of the correspondence between said received data file and the identity said two or more disk drives in said selected parity group.

Claim 29

The system of claim 19 further including: means responsive to a request for said data file from one of said associated data processing devices for concatenating said segments of said data file.

Claim 30

The system of claim 26 further including: means responsive to said concatenating means for transmitting said concatenated segments of said data file to said requesting data processing device.

Claim 33

The method of claim 28 further including the step of: reconstructing the segment of said received data file written on said identified failed disk drive, using said associated disk drives;

Claim 34

The method of claim 29 further including the step of: writing said reconstructed segment of said data file on to said one backup disk drive.

Claim 35

The method of claim 28 wherein said step of reconstructing includes the steps of: generating said segment written on said identified failed disk drive using said associated parity data and the remainder of said data file.

Claim 36

The method of claim 28 wherein said step of writing includes the steps of: dividing said data file into two or more segments; and generating parity data for said segmented data file.

Claim 37

The method of claim 32 wherein said step of writing further includes the step of: writing each of said segments and said parity data on to a different one of said two or more disk drives in said selected parity group.

Claim 38

The method of claim 28 further including the step of: maintaining data indicative of the correspondence between said data file and the identity said two or more disk drives in said selected parity group.

Claim 39

The method of claim 28 further including the step of: concatenating, in response to a request for said data file from one of said associated data processing devices, said segments of said data file.

Claim 40

The method of claim 35 further including the step of: transmitting said concatenated segments of said data file to said requesting data processing device.

Claim 41

A disk memory system for storing data files that are accessible by associated data processing devices comprising: a plurality of disk drives for storing data thereon; means for transferring data between said disk memory system and said associated data processing devices; means for assigning a subset of said disk drives into two or more parity groups, each said parity group containing n+1 disk drives, where n is a positive integer; means for segmenting each data file received from said associated data processing devices via said transferring means into n segments; means responsive to said segmenting means for generating data parity information for said segmented data file; means for selecting one of said parity groups to store said received data file and associated generated parity information thereon; means for switchably interconnecting said n+1 disk drives in said selected parity group with said segmenting means to write said n segments plus said parity data on to said n+1 disk drives of said selected parity group; means for reserving one or more of said plurality of disk drives as backup disk drives, which backup disk drives are shared in common by said parity groups; means for identifying one of said n+1 disk drives that fails to function; means for switchably connecting one of said backup disk drives in place of said identified failed disk drive; means for reconstructing the segment of said data file written on said identified failed disk drive, using said associated parity data; and means for writing said reconstructed segment of said data file on to said one backup disk drive.

Claim 42

A disk memory system for storing data files that are accessible by associated data processing devices comprising: a plurality of disk drives for storing data thereon; means for transferring data between said disk memory system and said associated data processing devices; means for assigning a subset of said disk drives into two or more parity groups, each said parity group containing n+1 disk drives, where n is a positive integer; means for segmenting each data file received from said associated data processing devices via said transferring means into n segments; means responsive to said segmenting means for generating data parity information for said segmented data file; means for selecting one of said parity groups to store said received data file and associated generated parity information thereon; means for switchably interconnecting said n+1 disk drives in said selected parity group with said segmenting means to write said n segments plus said parity data on to said n+1 disk drives of said selected parity group; means for reserving one or more of said plurality of disk drives as backup disk drives, which backup disk drives are shared in common by said parity groups; means for identifying one of said n+1 disk drives that fails to function; means for switchably connecting one of said backup disk drives in place of said identified failed disk drive; means for reconstructing the segment of said data file written on said identified failed disk drive, using said associated parity data; and means for writing said reconstructed segment of said data file on to said one backup disk drive.

Claim 43

In a disk memory system including a plurality of disk drives a method of storing data filed that are accessible by associated data processing devices comprising the steps of: transferring data between said disk memory system and said associated data processing devices; segmenting each data file received from said associated data processing devices via said transferring means into n segments where n is a positive integer; generating data parity information for said segmented data file; assigning a subset of said plurality of disk drives into two or more parity groups, each said parity group containing n+1 disk drives; switchably interconnecting said n+1 disk drives in one of said parity groups with said segmenting means to write said n segments plus said parity data on to said n+1 disk drives of said one parity group; reserving one or more of said plurality of disk drives as backup disk drives, which backup disk drives are shared in common by said parity groups; identifying the one of said disk drives in said subset that fails to function; switchably connecting one of said backup disk drives in place of said identified failed disk drive; reconstructing the segment of said data file written on said identified failed disk drive, using said associated parity data; and writing said reconstructed segment of said data file on to said one backup disk drive.

Claim 44

In a disk memory system including a plurality of disk drives a method of storing data filed that are accessible by associated data processing devices comprising the steps of: transferring data between said disk memory system and said associated data processing devices; segmenting each data file received from said associated data processing devices via said transferring means into n segments where n is a positive integer; generating data parity information for said segmented data file; assigning a subset of said plurality of disk drives into two or more parity groups, each said parity group containing n+1 disk drives; switchably interconnecting said n+1 disk drives in one of said parity groups with said segmenting means to write said n segments plus said parity data on to said n+1 disk drives of said one parity group; reserving one or more of said plurality of disk drives as backup disk drives, which backup disk drives are shared in common by said parity groups; identifying the one of said disk drives in said subset that fails to function; switchably connecting one of said backup disk drives in place of said identified failed disk drive; reconstructing the segment of said data file written on said identified failed disk drive, using said associated parity data; and writing said reconstructed segment of said data file on to said one backup disk drive.

Claim 45

A disk memory system for emulating a large form factor disk drive to store data files that are accessible by associated data processing devices comprising: a plurality of small form factor disk drives for storing data thereon; means for assigning a subset of said disk drives into two or more parity groups, each said parity group including n+1 of said plurality of disk drives, where n is a positive integer; means for segmenting each data file received from said associated data processing devices into n segments; means responsive to said segmenting means for generating data parity information for said segmented data file; and means for switchably interconnecting said n+1 disk drives of one of said parity groups with said segmenting means to write said n segments plus said parity data on to said n+1 disk drives of said one parity group.

Claim 46

A disk memory system for emulating a large form factor disk drive to store data files that are accessible by associated data processing devices comprising: a plurality of small form factor disk drives for storing data thereon; means for assigning a subset of said disk drives into two or more parity groups, each said parity group including n+1 of said plurality of disk drives, where n is a positive integer; means for segmenting each data file received from said associated data processing devices into n segments; means responsive to said segmenting means for generating data parity information for said segmented data file; and means for switchably interconnecting said n+1 disk drives of one of said parity groups with said segmenting means to write said n segments plus said parity data on to said n+1 disk drives of said one parity group.

Claim 47

The system of claim 39 further including: means for reserving one or more of said plurality of disk drives as backup disk drives, which backup disk drives are shared in common by said parity groups; means for identifying one of said n+1 disk drives that fails to function; and means for switchably connecting one of said backup disk drives in place of said failed disk drive.

Claim 48

The system of claim 40 further including: means for reconstructing the segment of said data file written on said failed disk drive, using said associated parity data; and means for writing said reconstructed segment of said data file on to said one backup disk drive.

Claim 49

The system of claim 41 wherein said reconstructing means includes: means for generating said segment written on said failed disk drive using said associated parity data and the remainder of said data file.

Claim 50

The system of claim 39 further including: means for maintaining data indicative of the correspondence between said data file and the identity said n+1 disk drives in said one parity group.

Claim 51

The system of claim 39 further including: means responsive to a request for said data file from one of said associated data processing devices for concatenating said segments of said data file.

Claim 52

The system of claim 44 further including: means responsive to said concatenating means for transmitting said concatenated segments of said data file to said requesting data processing device.

Claim 53

In a disk memory system a method of emulating a large form factor disk drive using a plurality of small form factor disk drives to store data files that are accessible by associated data processing devices comprising the steps of: assigning a subset of said disk drives into two or more parity groups, each said parity group containing n+1 disk drives, where n is a positive integer; selecting one of said parity groups; segmenting each data file received from said associated data processing devices into n segments; generating data parity information for said segmented data file; and switchably interconnecting said n+1 disk drives of one of said parity groups with said segmenting means to write said n segments plus said parity data on to said n+1 disk drives of said one parity group.

Claim 54

In a disk memory system a method of emulating a large form factor disk drive using a plurality of small form factor disk drives to store data files that are accessible by associated data processing devices comprising the steps of: assigning a subset of said disk drives into two or more parity groups, each said parity group containing n+1 disk drives, where n is a positive integer; selecting one of said parity groups; segmenting each data file received from said associated data processing devices into n segments; generating data parity information for said segmented data file; and switchably interconnecting said n+1 disk drives of one of said parity groups with said segmenting means to write said n segments plus said parity data on to said n+1 disk drives of said one parity group.

Claim 55

The method of claim 46 further including the steps of: reserving one or more of said plurality of disk drives as backup disk drives, which backup disk drives are shared in common by said parity groups; identifying one of said subset of disk drives that fails to function; and switchably connecting one of said backup disk drives in place of said failed disk drive.

Claim 56

The method of claim 47 further including the steps of: reconstructing the segment of said data file written on said failed disk drive, using said associated party data; and writing said reconstructed segment of said data file on to said one backup disk drive.

Claim 57

The method of claim 48 wherein said step of reconstructing includes the steps of: generating said segment written on said failed disk drive using said associated parity data and the remainder of said data file.

Claim 58

The method of claim 46 further including the step of: maintaining data indicative of the correspondence between said data file and the identity said disk drives in said one parity group.

Claim 59

The method of claim 46 further including the step of: concatenating, in response to a request for said data file from one of said associated data processing devices, said segments of said data file.

Claim 60

The method of claim 51 further including the step of: transmitting said concatenated segments of said data file to said requesting data processing device.

Claim 61

A disk memory system for storing data files for one or more associated data processing devices comprising: a plurality of disk drives; means for assigning a subset of said plurality of said disk drives to two or more parity groups, each parity group consisting of n+1 disk drives, where n is a positive integer; means responsive to the receipt of a data file from one of said associated data processing devices for segmenting said received data file into n equal segments; means for generating a parity segment using said n segments of said received data file; and means for writing said n segments and said parity segment on one of said parity groups.

Claim 62

A disk memory system for storing data files for one or more associated data processing devices comprising: a plurality of disk drives; means for assigning a subset of said plurality of said disk drives to two or more parity groups, each parity group consisting of n+1 disk drives, where n is a positive integer; means responsive to the receipt of a data file from one of said associated data processing devices for segmenting said received data file into n equal segments; means for generating a parity segment using said n segments of said received data file; and means for writing said n segments and said parity segment on one of said parity groups.

Claim 63

The apparatus of claim 53 further including: means for selecting one or more of said plurality of disk drives as backup disk drives, which backup disk drives are shared in common by said parity groups.

Claim 64

The system of claim 54 further including: means for identifying one of said disk drives in a parity group that fails to function; and means for reconstructing the segment of said data file written on said failed disk drive, using said associated parity data.

Claim 65

The system of claim 55 further including: means for writing said reconstructed segment of said data file on to one of said backup disk drives.

Claim 66

The system of claim 55 wherein said reconstructing means includes: means for generating said segment written on said failed disk drive using said associated parity data and the remainder of said data file.

Claim 67

The system of claim 53 further including: means responsive to a request for said data file from one of said associated data processing devices for concatenating said segments of said data file.

Claim 68

In a disk memory system including a plurality of disk drives a method of storing data files for one or more associated data processing devices comprising the steps of: assigning a subset of said plurality of said disk drives to two or more parity groups, each parity group consisting of n+1 disk drives, where n is a positive integer; segmenting, in response to the receipt of a data file from one of said associated data processing devices, said received data file into n equal segments; generating a parity segment using said n segments of said received data file; and writing said n segments and said parity segment on one of said parity groups.

Claim 69

In a disk memory system including a plurality of disk drives a method of storing data files for one or more associated data processing devices comprising the steps of: assigning a subset of said plurality of said disk drives to two or more parity groups, each parity group consisting of n+1 disk drives, where n is a positive integer; segmenting, in response to the receipt of a data file from one of said associated data processing devices, said received data file into n equal segments; generating a parity segment using said n segments of said received data file; and writing said n segments and said parity segment on one of said parity groups.

Claim 70

The method of claim 59 further including the step of: selecting one or more of said plurality of disk drives as backup drives as backup disk drives, which backup disk drives are shared in common by said parity groups.

Claim 71

The method of claim 60 further including the step of: identifying one of said disk drives in a parity group that fails to function; and reconstructing the segment of said data file written on said failed disk drive, using said associated parity data.

Claim 72

The method of claim 61 further including the step of: writing said reconstructed segment of said data file on to one of said backup disc drives.

Claim 73

The method of claim 62 wherein said step of reconstructing includes the steps of: generating said segment written on said failed disk drive using said associated parity data and the remainder of said data file.

Claim 74

The method of claim 59 further including the step of: concatenating, in response to a request for said data file from one of said associated data processing devices, said segments of said data file.