Patent ID: 9557937
Date: 2017-01-31
CPC Classifications: G06F

Claim:
1. A method comprising: writing a file, as data blocks in an array of storage devices; and associating the data blocks with metadata related to at least one location in the array of storage devices for later access to the data blocks, including representing the file as a hierarchical data structure having a plurality of nodes, a first portion of nodes having a first span type and a second portion of nodes having a second span type; wherein the first span type comprises a fixed span type in which each of the nodes in a given level of the hierarchical data structure refers to data blocks of fixed size, and wherein the second span type comprises a variable span type in which each of the nodes in a given level of the hierarchical data structure refers to data blocks of different size, and wherein the span type of all nodes in a given level of hierarchical data structure is the same.