RAID File Allocation Across Virtual Cylinder Groups
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional protected storage systems face inefficiencies in both data protection and retrieval speed, often requiring complex operations across multiple storage devices, which can reduce file retrieval performance and lead to underutilization of additional hardware.
Innovation Solution
A redundant array of independent storage devices is implemented, where files are allocated across multiple storage devices in a way that adjacent parts of a file are stored on different physical data blocks, allowing for parallel retrieval and efficient streaming by using a storage device controller to manage the allocation and writing of file parts across multiple storage devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If data is protected using conventional storage systems with multiple storage devices, then data protection is improved, but file retrieval speed deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides files into multiple parts and stores adjacent parts on different storage devices within a RAID array. This segmentation allows parallel retrieval of multiple file parts simultaneously, improving file retrieval speed while maintaining data protection through distributed storage across multiple devices.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a new dimension of storage organization by allocating adjacent file parts to different storage devices rather than storing them sequentially on the same device. This dimensional change in data layout enables parallel access paths and improves retrieval performance without compromising data protection.
2Productivity
If more hardware is added to increase performance in protected storage systems, then performance can be improved in some circumstances, but hardware utilization efficiency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the RAID array serve dual functions: data protection and performance enhancement. By organizing data across multiple storage devices with adjacent parts on different devices, the same hardware infrastructure simultaneously provides both protection and parallel retrieval capability, eliminating the need for separate hardware additions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the storage allocation parameters by distributing adjacent file parts across different storage devices rather than concentrating them. This parameter change in data layout optimizes both protection and retrieval performance from the existing hardware, improving utilization efficiency without adding more devices.
Data Source
AI summary
The described technology is generally directed towards allocating adjacent file parts to different virtual cylinder groups mapped to storage devices in a storage array system. According to an embodiment, a system can comprise a processor and computer executable components that can comprise a file allocating component that can allocate a first part of a file to a first logical data block mapped to a first physical data block on a first storage device, and allocate a second part of the file to a second logical data block mapped to a second physical data block on a second storage device, the allocating being based on the second physical data block being on a different storage device than the first physical data block. The components can also comprise a storage device controller that can write the first and second parts of the file to the first and second physical data blocks.