Method and Apparatus for Variable-Sized Data Blocks in a Storage Network

A method for storing data in a data storage network comprises

• receiving a storage request for data;
• determining a data type for the data;
• based on the data type, determining whether to partition the data into variable-sized data blocks;
• in response to a determination to divide the data into variable-sized data blocks, partitioning the data according to a partition function into a plurality of data blocks;
• encoding each data block of the plurality of data blocks according to a dispersed storage error coded function to produce a plurality of data fragments;
• and
• facilitating storage of the plurality of data fragments in a plurality of storage network nodes.

A computing device comprises:

• one or more network interfaces;
• memory including operational instructions;
• and
• a processing module operably coupled to the memory and the one or more network interfaces, the processing module configured to execute the operational instructions to:
• receive a storage request for data;
• determine a data type for the data;
• based on the data type, determining whether to partition the data into variable-sized data blocks;
• in response to a determination to divide the data into variable-sized data blocks, partition the data according to a partition function into a plurality of data blocks;
• encode each data block of the plurality of data blocks according to a dispersed storage error coded function to produce a plurality of data fragments;
• and
• select a plurality of solid-state memory devices for storage of the plurality of data fragments;
• facilitate storage of each data fragment of the plurality of data blocks the plurality of data fragments in a memory device of the plurality of solid-state memory devices.