Patent ID: 6832292
Filing Date: 2004-12-14
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
A multiple access storage system comprising:a plurality of storage blades; and interconnection means for connecting said plurality of storage blades to one another and connecting each of said storage blades to a host system; wherein: each of said storage blades includes a HDD for storing user data or redundant data of said user data, a controller for controlling said HDD, and an I/O port for input/output of a data frame from/to said interconnection means; said controller judges, upon reception of a data access request designated by a data frame given from said I/O port, whether data corresponding to said data access request is stored in said HDD or not, and transfers said data frame to another storage blade having a high possibility of presence of the data corresponding to said data access request when the data is absent in the storage blade; a transmission times region for counting the number of transmission times by which said data frame is transferred between storage blades is provided in said data frame so that a threshold of the number of transmission times is set in each of said storage blades; and if the number of transmission times stored in said transmission times region is not smaller than said threshold of the number of transmission times when a decision is made that the access-requested data is not stored in said HDD, said controller broadcasts said data frame to all storage blades having possibility of presence of the data.