Patent ID: 7093157
Filing Date: 2006-08-15
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A signal bearing medium tangibly embodying a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform operations for providing protection from data loss on a storage device, the operations comprising: designating a number n, wherein the number n is initially designated zero, and responsive to the occurrence of a hard error, the number n is designated a value greater than zero; identifying a plurality of groups of strips on the storage device, wherein a number of strips in a plurality of the groups is equal to the number n; reserving a respective parity protection strip on the storage device, for a plurality of the groups of strips identified on the storage device; calculating a parity value for a plurality of parity protection strips on the storage device, wherein each calculated parity value is a function of information stored in each of the strips in the corresponding group of strips; storing the calculated parity protection strip parity values, in corresponding parity protection strips on the storage device; and monitoring the frequency of write updates on the storage device, and automatically tuning the number n, as a function of the frequency of the write updates; and wherein the storage device is a member of an array of storage devices, and wherein for each group identified on the storage device, each strip in the group is in a different stride in the array than the other strips in the group.