Patent ID: 8627038
Filing Date: 2014-01-07
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A storage system comprising: a storage pool including a plurality of physical storage areas provided by a plurality of storage devices; a plurality of virtual volumes, associated with the storage pool, to each of which a physical storage area in the storage pool can be allocated on a predetermined unit basis after receiving a write access request at least to a region of one of the plurality of virtual volumes, respectively, wherein no physical storage area is allocated to the region of the one of the plurality of virtual volumes before receiving the write access request; and a controller which performs a search in the storage pool on the predetermined unit basis for a certain physical storage area storing a specified data pattern, releases the certain physical storage area identified during the search from allocation to a certain region in the plurality of virtual volumes, and allocates the released certain physical storage area to a second region of a second virtual volume of the plurality of virtual volumes after receiving a second write request to the second region of the second virtual volume.