Virtual Disk Array for Distributed Storage Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Portable devices such as mobile phones and tablets often face storage capacity limitations, making it difficult to accommodate the increasing amount of data being input regularly.
Innovation Solution
A storage management system that includes a storage management device connected to terminal devices via a network, utilizing a virtual disk array card with multiple virtual disks of varying capacities to map and manage shared storage spaces, allowing files to be stored across multiple devices, thereby optimizing storage utilization and capacity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If files are stored locally on portable devices, then data accessibility is improved, but storage capacity is exceeded
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the storage system into multiple virtual disks distributed across different terminal devices. Instead of storing all data on a single device, the file system divides storage into multiple virtual disk units that can be distributed across the network, allowing data to be stored across multiple devices while maintaining unified access through the distributed file system.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from a single-dimension local storage model to a multi-dimensional distributed storage model by introducing network connectivity as an additional dimension. Data can be accessed not only locally but also remotely through the network, creating a hierarchical storage architecture that expands the accessible storage space beyond physical device limits.
2Quantity of substance
If storage space is expanded using distributed file system, then storage capacity is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a distributed file system as an intermediary layer between users and the underlying distributed storage infrastructure. This file system handles the complexity of data distribution, replication, and retrieval automatically, presenting a simplified interface to users while managing the complex coordination required for distributed storage across multiple terminal devices.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements data replication across multiple virtual disks and terminal devices. By creating copies of data across the distributed network, the system achieves both expanded storage capacity and improved reliability. The copying mechanism also simplifies data retrieval by allowing access from multiple locations, reducing the complexity of data management compared to centralized storage.
Data Source
AI summary
A storage management method, includes steps: detecting sizes of shared storage spaces of all terminal devices joined in a sharing system; dividing the all terminal devices into a number of device groups randomly; classifying the terminal devices of each group into a number of kinds of terminal devices according to the sizes of the shared storage spaces of the terminal devices of each device group; mapping the shared storage spaces of each kind of terminal device of each device group to one corresponding virtual disk of one row of a virtual disk array card; and determining a size of a file to be stored when receiving a storing request, and selecting a virtual disk with size nearest to and greater than or equal to that of the file from one row randomly, and storing the file into the terminal devices mapping to the selected virtual disk.