US 7,607,034 B2 · Data storage system and control method thereof

Abstract

Hard discs constituting a disc array system are arranged at locations far from one another so as to eliminate their simultaneous damage due to a local disaster and concentration of the processing load thereby suppressing the recovery time upon hard disc failure. It is possible to realize continuous operation without system down even when the other disasters have occurred. A plurality of hard disc devices are arranged at different locations far from one another, write-in data from a server device is mapped by the RAID method, and a data packet added by the RAID information and the error correction code is distributed to the respective hard discs. Moreover, the line connection device for performing data transfer to the hard disc device has the RAID control function while the main control device is dedicated to monitoring of the hard disc devices and data recovery process upon occurrence of a failure. Moreover, backup of the restored data is transmitted to the server device during a failure recovery process so that recovery re-execution can easily be performed by using the backup when data recovery has not terminated normally.

Claims11

Dependent claims

A data storage system for performing data write-in/read-out according to a request from a server device, the system comprising:

a plurality of hard disc devices arranged far from one another;
and data distribution means for distributing write-in data from the server device to each of the hard disc devices by the RAID method, wherein the data distribution means maps the write-in data by the RAID method, adds RAID information to each of the data which has been mapped, thereby creating a data packet, and transmits the data packet to each of the hard disc devices;
and wherein
when one of the hard discs is replaced with a new one due to a failure, the data distribution means transmits the backup of the data restored for the hard disc device to the server device, and when storage of the restored data into the replaced hard disc device has not terminated normally, the backup data is received from the server device so that the recovery process is re-executed by using the backup data.

1 more element

A control method for a data storage system for operating a plurality of hard disc devices, which are arranged at locations far from one another, by the RAID method and performing data write-in/read-out according to a request from a server device, the method comprising;

mapping the write-in data from the server device by the RAID method;
generating RAID-constituting information for each unit data mapped;
creating packet data by adding the RAID-constituting information to the unit data;
distributing the packet data to the hard disc devices, and wherein the data storage system comprises:
a main control device for monitoring the hard disc devices and performs data recovery when one of the hard disc devices has failed;
and a line connection device for controlling a data line connecting the main control device to the hard disc devices;
the method further comprising, upon occurrence of a data write-in request in the server device, transmitting the request, by the main control device, directly to the line connection device;
and mapping, by the line connection device, the recording data in the sector unit of the hard disc and transmitting a data packet added by an error correction code and the RAID-constituting information to each of the hard disc devices;
monitoring, by the main control device, each of the hard disc devices and, upon replacement one of the hard disc devices due to a failure, restoring, by the line connection device, the data to be stored in the replaced hard disc device and sending the data to the main control device;
a step of building, by the main control device, the restored data for the replaced hard disc device and returning it to the line connection device;
and a step of adding, by the line connection device, an error correction code to the data and sending it to the hard disc device;
and
sending, by the main control device, backup of the recovered data built for the replaced hard disc device, to the server device.

10 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Data storage system and control method thereof

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Data storage system and control method thereof

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims11