Disk drive memory

A method of storing data files for data processing devices on an associated disk memory system that includes a plurality of disk drives comprising the steps of:

• assigning a subset of said plurality of disk drives into at least two redundancy groups, each redundancy group consisting of at least two disk drives;
• selecting, in response to one of said processing devices transmitting a data file to said disk memory system, one of said redundancy groups to store said transmitted data file thereon;
• writing said transmitted data file and redundancy data associated with said transmitted data file across said at least two disk drives of said selected redundancy group;
• reserving at least one of said plurality of disk drives as backup disk drives, said backup disk drives shared in common by said redundancy groups;
• identifying one of said disk drives in said subset that fails to function;
• and
• switchably connecting one of said backup disk drives in place of said identified failed disk drive.

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 at least two redundancy groups, each said redundancy group containing n+m 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 of data, where n is a positive integer greater than 1;
• means responsive to said segmenting means for generating m segments of data redundancy information for said segmented data file, where m is a positive integer greater than 1;
• means for selecting one of said redundancy groups to store said received data file and said generated redundancy information thereon;
• means for switchably interconnecting said n+m disk drives in said selected redundancy group with said segmenting means to write said n segments of data plus said m segments of redundancy data on to said n+m disk drives of said selected redundancy group;
• means for reserving r of said plurality of disk drives as backup disk drives, where r is a positive integer, which backup disk drives are shared in common by said redundancy groups;
• means for identifying one of said n+m disk drives that fails to function;
• means for switchably connecting one of said r 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 redundancy data;
• and
• means for writing said reconstructed segment of said data file on to said one backup disk drive.

In a disk memory system including a plurality of disk drives a method of storing data files 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 of data, where n is a positive integer greater than 1;
• generating m segments of data redundancy information for said segmented data file, where m is a positive integer greater than 1;
• assigning a subset of said plurality of disk drives into at least two redundancy groups, each said redundancy group containing n+m disk drives;
• switchably interconnecting said n+m disk drives in one of said redundancy groups with said segmenting means to write said n segments of said received data file plus said m segments of redundancy data on to said n+m disk drives of said one redundancy group;
• reserving r of said plurality of disk drives as backup disk drives, where r is a positive integer, which backup disk drives are shared in common by said redundancy 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 redundancy data;
• and
• writing said reconstructed segment of said data file on to said one backup disk drive.

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 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 greater than 1;
• means for segmenting each data file received from said associated data processing devices into n segments of data;
• means responsive to said segmenting means for generating m segments of data redundancy information for said segmented data file;
• and
• means for switchably interconnecting said n+m disk drives of one of said redundancy groups with said segmenting means to write said n segments of said received data file plus said m segments of redundancy data on to said n+m selected disk drives of said selected redundancy group.

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 at least two redundancy groups, each of said redundancy groups containing n+m disk drives, where both n and m are positive integers greater than 1;
• selecting one of said redundancy groups;
• segmenting each data file received from said associated data processing devices into n segments of data;
• generating m segments of data redundancy information for said segmented data file;
• and
• switchably interconnecting said n+m disk drives of one of said redundancy groups with said segmenting means to write said n segments of said received data file plus said m segments of redundancy data on to said n+m disk drives of said one redundancy group.

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 at least two redundancy groups, each redundancy group consisting of n+m disk drives, where n and m are both positive integers greater than 1;
• means responsive to a data file being transmitted to said disk drive memory from one of said associated data processing devices for segmenting said transmitted data file into n equal segments;
• means for generating m redundancy segments using said n segments of said transmitted data file;
• and
• means for writing said n data segments and said m redundancy segments on one of said redundancy groups.

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 at least two redundancy groups, each redundancy group consisting of n+m disk drives, where n and m are both positive integers greater than 1;
• segmenting, in response to a data file being transmitted to said disk drive memory from one of said associated data processing devices, said transmitted data file into n equal segments.
• generating m redundancy segments using said n segments of said transmitted data file;
• and
• writing said n data segments and said m redundancy segments on one of said redundancy groups.