Distributed Parity Storage Rebuild via Parallel Access

The patent implements preliminary action by pre-calculating and pre-storing parity data across multiple disks in a distributed manner. When disk failure occurs, the system can immediately reconstruct lost data using the pre-positioned parity data without needing to perform time-consuming real-time calculations or access reserved spare disks, thus reducing data recovery time while maintaining data protection reliability

The patent applies segmentation by dividing the data and parity information into multiple segments distributed across different disks. During rebuild operations, the system can access and process these segmented data portions in parallel from multiple disks simultaneously, rather than sequentially accessing a single spare disk. This parallel processing approach maintains system performance during rebuild while ensuring data protection through distributed redundancy

The patent implements universality by making all disks in the array serve dual functions: both data storage and redundancy storage. Unlike traditional RAID that requires dedicated spare disks or RAIN that uses distributed redundancy with lower capacity efficiency, this system allows every disk to contribute to both data capacity and fault tolerance. This multi-functional approach achieves fast data recovery through distributed parity access while maximizing capacity efficiency by utilizing the full array for productive storage

The patent applies self-service by enabling the distributed parity data already present across the array to automatically serve the recovery function without requiring dedicated spare disks. The existing data and parity segments throughout the array self-organize to reconstruct lost information when failure occurs, eliminating the need for reserved capacity and achieving both data recovery reliability and capacity efficiency simultaneously