| Class / Patent application number | Description | Number of patent applications / Date published |
|---|
| 711004000 | Dynamic-type storage device (e.g., disk, tape, drum) | 25 |
| 20080222344 | Facilitating Integration of a Virtual Tape Library System with a Physical Tape Library System - Facilitating integration of a virtual tape library system with a physical tape library system. A virtual library tape (VTL) system acts as an intermediary between a physical library tape (PTL) system and a backup host, such that the backup host is always aware of, and can manage the media present in the VTL and also in the PTL. Exporting of data from a virtual tape to a physical tape is performed by the VTL system for high performance. Also a one to one mapping exists between the virtual tape barcode label and the physical tape barcode label, thereby facilitating restores directly from physical tape. | 09-11-2008 |
| 20080244154 | Method for Controlling Access to Data of a Tape Data Storage Medium - A method, system, and machine-readable medium for controlling access to data of a tape data storage medium are disclosed. In accordance with one embodiment, a method is provided which comprises conveying data access control metadata from a tape cartridge comprising a tape data storage medium to a host, receiving decrypted metadata from the host, comparing a checksum value determined utilizing the decrypted metadata with checksum data stored within the tape cartridge; and processing a request to access the tape data storage medium received from the host based upon a comparison of the checksum value and checksum data. In the described method embodiment, the data access control metadata comprises encrypted metadata corresponding to a data storage parameter, where data is stored within the tape data storage medium utilizing the data storage parameter and the decrypted metadata is generated by the host utilizing the encrypted metadata. | 10-02-2008 |
| 20080270672 | Disk drive device and method for accessing disk thereof - Embodiments of the present invention help to improve accuracy in data and maintain data rate in a disk drive device which sends data at a reassignment source address to a host in response to a specific command. According to one embodiment, a hard disk drive (HDD) performs data write operations to a reassignment source data sector in addition to a reassignment destination source data sector if a reassigned data sector is present. Writing data to the reassignment source data sector improves accuracy in data to be transferred in a continuous read. The number of execution steps registered in an error recovery procedure (ERP) table in a write operation to the reassignment source data sector is smaller than the number of execution steps registered in an ERP table to the reassignment destination data sector. | 10-30-2008 |
| 20090043942 | Management Method for a virtual volume across a plurality of storages - To enhance capacity expansion property of a storage system for providing a thin provisioning volume, this invention provides a computer system including: a first storage system; and a second storage system for providing a second volume to the first storage system. The first storage system is configured to: define at least one first volumes; define a first storage pool including the defined first volume and the provided second volume; provide to the host computer a first thin provisioning volume that is recognized as a volume having a capacity equal to or larger than that of storage areas assigned from the first storage pool. The first thin provisioning volume is thus assigned with both storage areas of the first volume and storage areas of the second volume, which are included in the first storage pool. | 02-12-2009 |
| 20090063748 | Method and Apparatus for Providing Continuous Access to Shared Tape Drives from Multiple Virtual Tape Servers Within a Data Storage System - A method for providing continuous access to shared tape drives from two virtual tape server (VTS) nodes is disclosed. A group of tape drives are connected to two VTS nodes via a set of switches. Both VTS nodes can concurrently process requests to mount physical tape cartridges to separate tape drives. The selection of a tape drive to fulfill a volume mount request on a physical volume begins by locking down any access to a tape drive table having a composite view of all the tape drives shared between the two VTS nodes. An available tape drive is then selected to mount the physical volume, and an entry in the tape drive table is updated to claim ownership of the tape drive. A reservation command is sent to the tape drive to lock down any access to the tape drive, and the lock to the tape drive table is released. Having claimed ownership to the tape drive, the VTS node can now perform the volume mount request. | 03-05-2009 |
| 20090077300 | Systems and methods for managing tape drive operation - Systems and methods for managing operation of multiple tape drives in a way so that incoming data is spread or distributed across the multiple tape drives and which may be implemented in one example to continuously accept for recording without interruption from one or more data sources, for example, so that the date is distributed across the multiple tape drives in real time and without interruption as it becomes available from one or more given data sources. Two or more tape drives may be further be managed in a manner such that the multiple drives appear to be a single drive when writing data to, or reading data from, the multiple tape drives. | 03-19-2009 |
| 20100036996 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CASCADED FLASHCOPY ZONING AND ALGORITHM AND/OR COMPUTER PROGRAM CODE AND METHOD IMPLEMENTING THE SAME. - A method of performing cascaded flashcopy (FC) including starting a flashcopy map when a target disk is already a source of an active FC map. A computer storage system includes a configuration that allows a flashcopy (FC) map to be started when a target disk is already the source of an active FC map. | 02-11-2010 |
| 20100100660 | Network storage system, disk array device, host device, access control method, and data access method - A network storage includes at least one host device, a plurality of disk array devices, an address map that is stored in one of the plurality of disk array devices and indicates a correspondence relation between a logical address to view the plurality of disk array devices as one storage device and a physical address of each of the plurality of disk array devices, a management master that is included in the host device or one of the plurality of disk array devices, an address map storing location information that is stored in the management master and indicates the disk array device that stores the address map and an address on which the address map is stored in the disk array device, and a command management unit that is included in the management master and transmits the address map storing location information to the host device. | 04-22-2010 |
| 20100131693 | HARD DISK SYSTEM STATE MONITORING METHOD - A hard disk system state monitoring method is provided. The hard disk system state monitoring method is to monitor the state of a hard disk system. The hard disk system comprises a backplane, an expander and a plurality of hard disks adapted in the device slots of the backplane. The hard disk system state monitoring method comprises the steps of: retrieving a logic and physical address mapping table from the expander; retrieving a physical address and device slot number mapping table, generating a logical address and device slot number mapping table according to the logic and physical address mapping table and physical address and device slot number mapping table; receiving a plurality of hard disk instant state signals; and establishing a hard disk system state database according to the logical address and device slot number mapping table and the hard disk instant state signals. | 05-27-2010 |
| 20110022775 | ASSIGNING A PHYSICAL ADDRESS TO A DATA STORAGE DEVICE - A method of assigning a physical address to a tape-based data storage device is provided. The method includes receiving a first initialization signal from a system controller at an input port associated with a first tape-based data storage device and prohibiting communication at an output port associated with the first tape-based data storage device. The method further includes providing a first confirmation signal to the system controller in response to receiving the first initialization signal and receiving an instruction from the system controller to enable communication at the output port associated with the first tape-based data storage device in response to the first confirmation signal. The method also includes determining a physical address associated with said first tape-based data storage device based on the instruction from the system controller, the physical address enabling communication at the output port of the first tape-based storage device. | 01-27-2011 |
| 20110029711 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SLICE PARTIAL REBUILDING IN A DISPERSED STORAGE NETWORK - A dispersed storage system includes a plurality of storage units that each include a partial rebuild grid module. The partial rebuild grid module includes partial rebuilding functionality to reconstruct one of a plurality of encoded data slices wherein the plurality of encoded data slices are generated from a data segment based on an error encoding dispersal function. In the partial rebuilding process, a data slice is rebuilt by combining in any order slice partials generated from at least a threshold number T of the plurality of data slices. | 02-03-2011 |
| 20110125950 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PERFORMING DEDUPLICATED DATA PROCESSING ON TAPE - A method, computer management apparatus, and computer program product are provided for processing data stored on a sequential storage media within a computational computing environment. A block reference table and most often read blocks are loaded from a modified tape format of a sequential storage media into an internal memory of a sequential storage media device. During write command processing, a data deduplication procedure is performed using a modified block reference table. It is determined if entries from the block reference table must be deleted and responsive to this identifying and deleting host block and device block entries from the block reference table. | 05-26-2011 |
| 20110320679 | OFFLOADING VOLUME SPACE RECLAMATION OPERATIONS TO VIRTUAL TAPE SYSTEMS - A method for offloading volume space reclamation operations to virtual tape systems is disclosed herein. In certain embodiments, such a method includes writing instruction information to a virtual tape system for use in performing a reclamation operation on a source virtual tape volume. The instruction information identifies the source virtual tape volume as well as valid objects in the source virtual tape volume. The virtual tape system then transforms the source virtual tape volume by retaining valid objects in the source virtual tape volume, removing invalid objects in the source virtual tape volume, and updating metadata associated with the source virtual tape volume to reflect changes made thereto. This generates an updated source virtual tape volume of reduced size. A corresponding computer program product and system are also disclosed and claimed herein. | 12-29-2011 |
| 20120059972 | HYBRID STORAGE APPARATUS AND HYBRID STORAGE MEDIUM CONTROLLLER AND ADDRESSING METHOD THEREOF - A hybrid storage apparatus including a non-volatile memory module, a hard disk module, and a hybrid storage medium controller is provided. The hybrid storage medium controller groups physical bocks of the non-volatile memory module into at least a storage area and a replacement area, and the hybrid storage medium controller configures a plurality of logical blocks for mapping to the physical blocks in the storage area and configures a plurality of logical disk addresses for mapping to physical disk addresses of the hard disk module. The hybrid storage medium controller further configures a plurality of logical access addresses to be accessed by a host system and initially maps a portion of the logical access addresses to the logical blocks and the other logical access addresses to a portion of the logical disk addresses. Accordingly, the hybrid storage apparatus can have improved data access performance and prolonged lifespan. | 03-08-2012 |
| 20120117297 | STORAGE TIERING WITH MINIMAL USE OF DRAM MEMORY FOR HEADER OVERHEAD - Disclosed is a method of storage tiering with minimal use of DRAM memory for header overhead that utilizes the beginning of the volume to store frequently accessed or hot data. A solid state storage device is placed at the beginning of a tiered volume and is used to store frequently accessed data. When data becomes less frequently accessed it is moved to a cold data storage area on a hard disk drive in the tiered volume. The data exchange is performed on a one-to-one basis reducing the amount and use of DRAM. | 05-10-2012 |
| 20120166704 | ADDRESS GENERATING AND DETECTING METHOD AND REPRODUCING AND RECORDING APPARATUS - Recording capacity per layer is detected from a disc and bit allocation of wobble addresses in a conventional optical disc and bit allocation in a high-density optical disc are controlled selectively to detect physical position addresses on the disc. Address detection can be performed for two kinds of discs which are equal in structure of addresses embedded in wobbles but different in bit allocation of addresses. | 06-28-2012 |
| 20120331203 | I/O CONVERSION METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR STORAGE SYSTEM - A storage system comprises a storage apparatus which includes a processor, storage disks, and a memory storing a page mapping table, a page mapping program, and a page-filename mapping program. A file system manages a file tree of files with filenames. The page mapping table specifies a relationship between data volumes in the storage apparatus and the storage disks and the file system, the data volumes each including pages, each page including segments, each segment including sectors. The file tree has for each storage apparatus a hierarchy of directories and files based on relationships among the data volumes, the pages, and the segments. The page mapping program and the page-filename mapping program are executable by the processor to specify, by page, a location of data contained in the I/O request by referring to the page mapping table and the file tree. | 12-27-2012 |
| 20130339567 | TWO LEVEL ADDRESSING IN STORAGE CLUSTERS - Digital objects are stored and accessed within a fixed content storage cluster by using a page mapping table and a pages index. A stream is read from the cluster by using a portion of its unique identifier as a key into the page mapping table. The page mapping table indicates a node holding a pages index indicating where the stream is stored. A stream is written to the cluster by storing the stream on any suitable node and then updating a pages index stored within the cluster. The cluster recovers from a node failure by first replicating streams from the failed node and reallocating a page mapping table to create a new pages index. The remaining nodes send records of the unique identifiers corresponding to objects they hold to the new pages index. A node is added to the cluster by reallocating a page mapping table. | 12-19-2013 |
| 20150089115 | STORAGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, STORAGE MANAGEMENT METHOD, STORAGE MEDIUM AND INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM - The present invention provides a storage management system that suppresses performance degradation due to Read-Modify-Write. The storage management system includes: a management unit managing a storage system including a first storage medium having a first physical sector size and an alternative storage medium having a second physical sector size smaller than the first physical sector size; an acceptance unit accepting a write request; and a disk processing control unit, when a write area identified by the write request is an area on the first storage medium and the start address or end address of the write area does not correspond to a boundary of a physical sector of the first storage medium, writing data identified by the write request on the alternative storage medium, notifying the host of completion of the write, and then transferring the data from the alternative storage medium to the first storage medium. | 03-26-2015 |
| 20150113201 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PRESERVING DATA OF A STORAGE DEVICE - A method and system for preserving data of a storage device are disclosed. In one embodiment, the method includes determining a number of times data is written to a first track in a first region of a storage medium, and rewriting data from a second track that is adjacent to the first track in the first region if the number of times data is written to the first track in the first region exceeds a first predetermined threshold. The method further includes determining a number of times data is rewritten to the second track in the first region, and relocating data from the second track in the first region to a second region of the storage medium if the number of times data is rewritten to the second track in the first region exceeds a second predetermined threshold. | 04-23-2015 |
| 20150324128 | EFFICIENT USE OF METADATA ACCOMPANYING FILE WRITING TO MEDIA - In one embodiment of the present invention, a method for holding metadata written by a file system is provided. It is determined whether first metadata written to a storage medium belongs to a first group of metadata written intentionally by a user, or to a second group of metadata automatically written by a file system. Responsive to determining that the first metadata belongs to the first group, the first metadata is held in memory using a back pointer holder to differentiate the first metadata from metadata belonging to the second group. | 11-12-2015 |
| 20160034393 | Slice-Based Random Access Buffer for Data Interleaving - The disclosure is directed to a system and method for interleaving data utilizing a random access buffer that includes a plurality of independently accessible memory slots. The random access buffer is configured to store slices of incoming data sectors in free memory slots, where a free memory slot is identified by a status flag associated with a logical address of the free memory slot. Meanwhile, a label buffer is configured to store labels associated with the slices of the incoming data sectors in a sequence based upon an interleaving scheme. Media sectors including the interleaved data slices are read out from the memory slots of the random access buffer in order of the sequence of labels stored by the label buffer. As the media sectors are read out of the random access buffer, the corresponding memory slots are freed up for incoming slices of the next super-sector. | 02-04-2016 |
| 20160092370 | PASS-THROUGH TAPE ACCESS IN A DISK STORAGE ENVIRONMENT - A command to write data to a virtual location is received at a disk storage system. The virtual location is mapped to a tape storage system. A record is generated including the data, the virtual location, and a sequence value. The sequence value indicates relative sequence when compared to other sequence values. The record is written to a record location on a tape cartridge loaded in a tape drive. Record metadata on the disk storage system is modified to indicate that the first record location contains the first record. The data on the record can be read from the tape cartridge. | 03-31-2016 |
| 20160147650 | NON-SEQUENTIAL WRITE FOR SEQUENTIAL READ BACK - A storage device controller addresses consecutively-addressed portions of incoming data to consecutive data tracks on a storage medium and writes the consecutively-addressed portions to the consecutive data tracks in a non-consecutive track order. In one implementation, the storage device controller reads the data back from the consecutive data tracks in a consecutive address order in a single sequential read operation. | 05-26-2016 |
| 20160148645 | READER DESIGN FOR INTERLACED MAGNETIC RECORDING - A storage device includes a multi-reader transducer head with a first reader and a second reader having an effective cross-track separation equal to a multiple of a defined track-pitch of a storage medium of the storage device. The effective cross-track separation may permit for a simultaneous data read of two non-adjacent data tracks. | 05-26-2016 |
