Patent ID: 8280854
Filing Date: 2012-10-02
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A computer-implemented method for relocating deduplicated data within a multi-device storage system, at least a portion of the method being performed by a computing device comprising at least one processor, the method comprising: identifying a set of deduplicated data units stored on a first device in the multi-device storage system, wherein each data unit in the set of deduplicated data units is referred to by one or more deduplication references; procuring reference data that indicates, for each data unit in the set of deduplicated data units, a number of deduplication references that point to the data unit, wherein the number of references that point to the data unit comprises a count of how many references point to the data unit; using the reference data to select one or more data units from the set of deduplicated data units for relocation to a second device in the multi-device storage system by determining that a number of deduplication references that point to the one or more selected data units is greater than a number of deduplication references that point to one or more other data units in the set of deduplicated data units; relocating the one or more selected data units to the second device in the multi-device storage system by moving the one or more selected data units with relatively high deduplication reference counts to a device with higher performance than the first device.