Method and apparatus for distributed storage integrity processing

A storage unit in a distributed storage network, comprising:

• a network interface for interfacing with a plurality of additional storage units in the distributed storage network;
• and
• at least one module operable to:
• scan an address range of encoded data slices;
• determine a plurality of identifications of encoded data slices that require rebuilding;
• store in a rebuild queue the plurality of identifications of encoded data slices that require rebuilding;
• select one of the plurality of identifications of encoded data slices from the rebuild queue to rebuild based on a prioritization algorithm, wherein the selected encoded data slice is one of an X number of encoded data slices associated with a data segment and wherein the prioritization algorithm is based on a priority indicator associated with the data segment;
• retrieve at least a number T of the X number of the encoded data slices associated with the data segment, wherein the number T corresponds to a number of the plurality of encoded data slices needed to reconstruct the data segment based on an error encoding dispersal function;
• reconstruct the data segment from at least the number T of the plurality of encoded data slices to produce a reconstructed data segment and
• generate a rebuilt encoded data slice corresponding to the selected encoded data slice from the reconstructed data segment.

A storage integrity system in a storage network, comprising:

• one or more processing modules operable to:
• access a rebuild queue, wherein the rebuild queue includes a plurality of identifications of data slices that require rebuilding;
• select one of the plurality of identifications of data slices that requires rebuilding from the rebuild queue based on a prioritization algorithm, wherein the selected data slice is one of an X number of a plurality of data slices of an encoded data segment;
• reconstruct the encoded data segment from at least a number T of the X number of the plurality of data slices of the encoded data segment to generate a reconstructed data segment, wherein the reconstructed data segment is one of a plurality of data segments of a data object and wherein the prioritization algorithm is based on a priority indicator associated with the data object;
• and
• generate a rebuilt encoded data slice corresponding to the selected data slice from the reconstructed data segment.