Patent ID: 6785788
Filing Date: 2004-08-31
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
In a computer system, a method for storing data on a plurality of disk drives, said method comprising:(1) providing a plurality of disk drives for storing said data, (2) providing a single second disk drive having a storage capacity at least equal to the total storage capacity of said first disk drives, said second disk drive providing for mirroring of data stored on said first disk drives, (3) simultaneously writing each of a plurality of data sets on a respective one of said first disk drives and also writing a direct image of each data set in a respective area of said second disk drive such that data coherency is maintained between data sets written on said first disk drives and their respective direct images written on said second disk drive without requiring said first or second drives to be initialized; (4) reading a data set by accessing the first disk drive on which the data set is stored and outputting the data set to said computer system; and (5) if the data set is unavailable from said first disk drive then accessing its corresponding direct image from its respective area on said second disk drive for outputting to said computer system.