The present invention is a method for implementing a storage
system. The storage
system may include a
disk array having a disk drive pair which includes a
solid-state disk drive and a hard disk drive. The method may include the step of
copying a data subset of a
data set from the hard disk drive to a spare
solid-state disk drive during a
solid-state disk drive rebuild process. The data subset includes a first amount of data and the
data set includes a second amount of data, where the first amount of data is less than the second amount of data. The method may further include the step of receiving a read request from a host
server requesting the data subset. The method further includes the step of directing the read command to the spare solid-state disk drive. The method may further include the step of, prior to completion of
copying of the
data set from the hard disk drive to the spare solid-state disk drive, reading the data subset from the spare solid-state disk drive based upon the read command. Further, the
disk array may be configured as a Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (
RAID) configuration, such as a Level 1
RAID configuration (
RAID 1 configuration) with the disk drive pair being a RAID disk drive pair, such as RAID 1 disk drive pair.