Process for generating and reconstructing variable number of parity for byte streams independent of host block size

A method for storing data in a data storage system, the method comprising the steps of:

• organizing incoming data into a variable number of data stripes, wherein the number of data stripes is independent of the number of storage units used to store the data stripes;
• cascading the data stripes into a redundancy creation mechanism to create redundancy data;
• and
• storing the data stripes and the redundancy data on a plurality of storage units, wherein the size of the data stripes is independent of the capacity of the storage units used to store the data stripes.

A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium including computer usable program code for storing data in a data storage system, the computer program product comprising:

• computer usable program code for organizing incoming data into a variable number of data stripes, wherein the number of data stripes is independent of the number of storage units used to store the data stripes;
• computer usable program code for cascading the data stripes into a redundancy creation mechanism to create redundancy data;
• and
• computer usable program code for storing the data stripes and the redundancy data on a plurality of storage units, wherein the size of the data stripes is independent of the capacity of the storage units used to store the data stripes.

A data processing system for storing data in a data storage system, the data processing system comprising:

• a storage device, wherein the storage device stores computer usable program code;
• and
• a processor, wherein the processor executes the computer usable program code to organize incoming data into a variable number of data stripes, wherein the number of data stripes is independent of the number of storage units used to store the data stripes;
• cascade the data stripes into a redundancy creation mechanism to create redundancy data;
• and store the data stripes and the redundancy data on a plurality of storage units, wherein the size of the data stripes is independent of the capacity of the storage units used to store the data stripes.