Method and apparatus for ongoing block storage device management

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for performing ongoing block storage device management operations. Software and/or firmware components are disclosed for performing ongoing block storage device management operations, such as file defragmentation and file erasures, in conjunction with corresponding block input/output (I/O) transactions for block storage devices, such as magnetic disk drives and optical drives. For example, in conjunction with performing a file update (block I/O write), file defragmentation operations are performed on the file. Similarly, block erase operations are performed in conjunction with deleting a file, so as to remove all data artifacts of the file at the same time it is deleted. Components for implementing the block storage device management operations may reside in an operating system layer, a firmware layer, or a virtualization layer.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.