Patent ID: 6839827

Claim:
A method for mapping logical blocks to physical storage blocks in a storage controller in communication with at least one host system that views a logical storage space, comprising: defining, with the storage controller, the logical storage space as a sequence of logical chunks, wherein each logical chunk comprises a plurality of logical blocks in the logical storage space; defining with the storage controller, a physical storage space as a sequence of physical chunks managed by the storage controller, wherein each physical chunk comprises a plurality of physical storage blocks in the physical storage system; associating, with the storage controller, each logical chunk in the sequence of logical chunks defining the logical storage space in the at least one host system with one physical chunk in the physical storage system, wherein continuous logical chunks are capable of being associated with non-contiguous physical chunks; determining a number of logical chunks to add to the logical storage space to expand storage in the logical storage space; determining one physical chunk not associated with a logical chunk in the physical storage space for each determined logical chunks to add; and associating each determined physical chunk with each determined logical chunk to add to the logical storage space.