Data record copy system for a disk drive array data storage subsystem

Claim 2

A disk memory system for storing data records for at least one data processor comprising: a plurality of disk drives; means, responsive to the receipt of a stream of data records from said data processor, for selecting available memory space in said disk drives to store said received stream of data records thereon; means for writing said received stream of data records in said selected available memory space; means, responsive to said writing means, for generating a data record pointer for each of said data records in said stream of data records identifying the physical memory location of said data record; means, responsive to the subsequent receipt of a data record copy request identifying one of said data records stored in said disk drives, for copying said identified data record including: means for identifying the physical memory location of the requested data record as specified by its data record pointer, means for generating a data record pointer that is duplicative of said data record pointer as the data record pointer for said copy of said requested data record, means for identifying said duplicative data record pointer as a pointer to a copy of said requested data record, and means for maintaining data indicative that both said data record pointer and said duplicative data record pointer point to said requested data record.

Claim 3

The disk memory system of claim 1 further comprising: memory means for storing each said duplicate data record pointer and said data record pointer.

Claim 4

The disk memory system of claim 2 wherein multiple copies of a data record can be created, each said copy having a duplicate data record pointer, said maintaining means includes: means for creating a ring for each of said data record pointers with all their said duplicate data record pointers.

Claim 5

The disk memory system of claim 3 wherein said copying means further includes: means, responsive to a generation of a next duplicate data record pointer, for inserting said next duplicate data record pointer into a one of said rings of data record pointers including said data record pointer.

Claim 6

The disk memory system of claim 3 wherein said copying means further includes: means, responsive to said disk memory system writing a data record identified by one of said duplicate data record pointers in a selected available memory space, for deleting said one duplicate data record pointer from said ring of data record pointers.

Claim 7

The disk memory system of claim 5 wherein said copying means further includes: means, responsive to a deletion of said one duplicate data record pointers, for deleting said data record pointer from said ring of data record pointers when no further duplicate data record pointers are associated with said data record pointer.

Claim 8

The disk memory system of claim 1 further comprising: means for storing each of said data record pointers in a table; means for including said duplicate data record pointer in said table; and means for appending data to said stored data record pointer indicative of a location in said table of said duplicate data record pointer.

Claim 9

The disk memory system of claim 7 wherein said copying means further includes: means, responsive to a generation of a next duplicate data record pointer whose data record pointer is already associated with a duplicate data record pointer stored in said table, for including said next duplicate data record pointer in said table; and means for updating a list of said duplicate data record pointers referring back to said data record pointer to indicate a location in said table of said next duplicate data record pointer.

Claim 10

The disk memory system of claim 8 wherein said copying means further includes: means, responsive to said disk memory system writing a data record identified by one of said duplicate data record pointers in a selected available memory space, for deleting said one duplicate data record pointer from said table.

Claim 11

The disk memory system of claim 9 wherein said copying means further includes: means, responsive to a deletion of said one duplicate data record pointers, for deleting said appended data from said stored data record pointer indicative of a location in said table of said deleted duplicate data record pointer.

Claim 14

The method of claim 11 further comprising the steps of: storing said generated data record pointers; and storing in a memory each said generated duplicate data record pointer and said data record pointer.

Claim 15

The method of claim 12 wherein multiple copies of a data record can be created, each said copy having a duplicate data record pointer, said step of maintaining includes: creating rings of said data record pointers with their said duplicate data record pointers for all said duplicate data record pointers.

Claim 16

The method of claim 13 wherein said step of copying further includes: inserting, in response to a generation of a next duplicate data record pointer, said next duplicate data record pointer to a one of said rings including said data record pointer.

Claim 17

The method of claim 13 wherein said step of copying further includes: deleting, in response to said disk memory system writing a data record identified by one of said duplicate data record pointers in a selected available memory space, said one duplicate data record pointer from said ring.

Claim 18

The method of claim 15 wherein said step of copying further includes: deleting, in response to a deletion of said one duplicate data record pointers, said data record pointer from said ring of data record pointers when no further duplicate data record pointers are associated with said data record pointer.

Claim 19

The method of claim 11 further comprising the steps of: storing each of said generated data record pointers in a table; including said duplicate data record pointer in said table; and appending data to said stored data record pointer indicative of a location in said table of said duplicate data record pointer.

Claim 20

The method of claim 17 wherein said step of copying further includes: including, in response to a generation of a next duplicate data record pointer whose data record pointer is already associated with a duplicate data record pointer stored in said table, said next duplicate data record pointer in said table; and updating a list of said duplicate data record pointers referring back to said data record pointer to indicate a location in said table of said next duplicate data record pointer.

Claim 21

The method of claim 18 wherein said step of copying further includes: deleting, in response to said disk memory system writing a data record identified by one of said duplicate data record pointers in a selected available memory space, said one duplicate data record pointer from said table.

Claim 22

The method of claim 19 wherein said step of copying further includes: deleting, in response to a deletion of said one duplicate data record pointers, said appended data from said stored data record pointer indicative of a location in said table of said deleted duplicate data record pointer.

Claim 23

A disk memory system for storing data records that are accessible by at least one data processor comprising: a plurality of disk drives 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; means for storing each stream of data records received from said data processor 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 data redundancy information for said data records stored on said n disk drives; means for writing said m segments of redundancy data on to said m disk drives of said selected redundancy group; means, responsive to said writing means, for generating a data record pointer for each of said data records in said stream of data records identifying the physical memory location of said data record in said redundancy group; means, responsive to the subsequent receipt of a data record copy request identifying one of said data records stored in one of said redundancy groups, for copying said identified data record, including: means for identifying the physical memory location of the requested data record as specified by its data record pointer, means for generating a data record pointer that is duplicate of said data record pointer as the data record pointer for said copy of said requested data record, means for identifying said duplicative data record pointer as a pointer to a copy of said requested data record, and means for maintaining data indicative that both said data record pointer and said duplicative data record pointer point to said requested data record.

Claim 24

A disk memory system for storing data records that are accessible by at least one data processor comprising: a plurality of disk drives 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; means for storing each stream of data records received from said data processor 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 data redundancy information for said data records stored on said n disk drives; means for writing said m segments of redundancy data on to said m disk drives of said selected redundancy group; means, responsive to said writing means, for generating a data record pointer for each of said data records in said stream of data records identifying the physical memory location of said data record in said redundancy group; means, responsive to the subsequent receipt of a data record copy request identifying one of said data records stored in one of said redundancy groups, for copying said identified data record, including: means for identifying the physical memory location of the requested data record as specified by its data record pointer, means for generating a data record pointer that is duplicate of said data record pointer as the data record pointer for said copy of said requested data record, means for identifying said duplicative data record pointer as a pointer to a copy of said requested data record, and means for maintaining data indicative that both said data record pointer and said duplicative data record pointer point to said requested data record.

Claim 25

The disk memory system of claim 21 further comprising: means for storing said generated data record pointers; and memory means for storing each said generated duplicate data record pointer and said data record pointer.

Claim 26

The disk memory system of claim 21 wherein multiple copies of a data record can be created, each said copy having a duplicate data record pointer, said maintaining means includes: means for creating rings of said data record pointers with their said duplicate data record pointers for all said duplicate data record pointers.

Claim 27

The disk memory system of claim 23 wherein said copying means further includes: means, responsive to a generation of a next duplicate data record pointer, for inserting said next duplicate data record pointer into a one of said rings including said data record pointer.

Claim 28

The disk memory system of claim 22 wherein said copying means further includes: means, responsive to said disk memory system writing a data record identified by one of said duplicate data record pointers in a selected available memory space in a selected redundancy group, for deleting said one duplicate data record pointer from said rings.

Claim 29

The disk memory system of claim 24 wherein said copying means further includes: means, responsive to a deletion of said one duplicate data record pointers, for deleting said associated data record pointer from said ring of data record pointers when no further duplicate data record pointers are associated with said data record pointer.

Claim 30

The disk memory system of claim 21 further comprising: means for storing each of said generated data record pointers in a table; means for including said duplicate data record pointer in said table; and means for appending data to said stored data record pointer indicative of a location in said table of said duplicate data record pointer.

Claim 31

The disk memory system of claim 27 wherein said copying means further includes: means, responsive to a generation of a next duplicate data record pointer whose data record pointer is already associated with a duplicate data record pointer stored in said table, for including said next duplicate data record pointer in said table; and means for updating a last of said duplicate data record pointers referring back to said data record pointer to indicate a location in said table of said next duplicate data record pointer.

Claim 32

The disk memory system of claim 28 wherein said copying means further includes: means, responsive to said disk memory system writing a data record identified by one of said duplicate data record pointers in a selected available memory space in a selected redundancy group, for deleting said one duplicate data record pointer from said table.

Claim 33

The disk memory system of claim 29 wherein said copying means further includes: means, responsive to a deletion of said one duplicate data record pointers, for deleting said appended data from said stored data record pointer indicative of a location in said table of said deleted duplicate data record pointer.

Claim 36

The method of claim 31 further comprising the steps of: storing said generated data record pointers; and storing in a memory each said generated duplicate data record pointer and said data record pointer.

Claim 37

The method of claim 32 wherein multiple copies of a data record can be created, each said copy having a duplicate data record pointer, said step of maintaining includes: creating rings of said data record pointers with their said duplicate data record pointers for all said duplicate data record pointers.

Claim 38

The method of claim 33 wherein said step of copying further includes: inserting, in response to a generation of a next duplicate data record pointer, said next duplicate data record pointer to a one of said rings including said data record pointer.

Claim 39

The method of claim 33 wherein said step of copying further includes: deleting, in response to said disk memory system writing a data record identified by one of said duplicate data record pointers in a selected available memory space in a selected redundancy group, said one duplicate data record pointer from said rings.

Claim 40

The method of claim 35 wherein said step of copying further includes: deleting, in response to a deletion of said one duplicate data record pointers, said data record pointer from said ring of data record pointers when no further duplicate data record pointers are associated with said data record pointer.

Claim 41

The method of claim 31 further comprising the steps of: storing each of said generated data record pointers in a table; including said duplicate data record pointer in said table; and appending data to said stored data record pointer indicative of a location in said table of said duplicate data record pointer.

Claim 42

The method of claim 37 wherein said step of copying further includes: including, in response to a generation of a next duplicate data record pointer whose data record pointer is already associated with a duplicate data record pointer stored in said table, said next duplicate data record pointer in said table; and updating a last of said duplicate data record pointers referring back to said data record pointer to indicate a location in said table of said next duplicate data record pointer.

Claim 43

The method of claim 38 wherein said step of copying further includes: deleting, in response to said disk memory system writing a data record identified by one of said duplicate data record pointers in a selected available memory space in a selected redundancy group, said one duplicate data record pointer from said table.

Claim 44

The method of claim 39 wherein said step of copying further includes: deleting, in response to a deletion of said one duplicate data record pointers, said appended data from said stored data record pointer indicative of a location in said table of said deleted duplicate data record pointer.