Method for regenerating and streaming content from a video server using RAID 5 data striping

A method for streaming content striped in RAID 5 format from an array of disk drives to a plurality of subscribers to minimize disruptive service from a disk drive failure, said method comprising:

• accessing content data striped in said RAID 5, on an extent-by-extent basis, from a plurality of disk drives configured in an array without reading the parity extents;
• streaming the content data to the plurality of subscribers on an extent-by-extent basis, sequentially, from the plurality of disk drives;
• predicting a disk drive failure;
• writing content data from a the disk drive predicted to fail to spare extents on non-failed disk drives in the array;
• detecting at least one of an actual failure and removal of the disk drive predicted to fail;
• and
• transitioning, in response to the detecting step, a recovery-carousel-serving mode of operation comprising:
• streaming psuedo-sequentially, extent-by-extent, content data of each parity group to the plurality of subscribers, where the regenerated content data in a spare extent of each parity group is streamed out of sequence.
• wherein in an instance where the disk drive predicted to fail fails prior to said writing step, said method further comprises
• transitioning to a stream regeneration mode of operation comprising:
• reading the content data contemporaneously from all extents in a parity group;
• regenerating a failed portion of the content data from a failed extent in the parity group corresponding to the failed disk drive;
• and
• streaming the content data in the parity group to the plurality of subscribers, extent-by-extent, immediately following the regenerating of the content data from the failed extent in the parity group.