Patent ID: 8332480

Claim:
A storage system comprising: a first storage node and a second storage node that are connected to each other, the first storage node including: a first storage unit that stores data; and a controller that controls the first storage unit to be in either an active state or an inactive state, according to a state condition indicating allocation of the inactive state and the active state to the first storage node and the second storage node, respectively; the second storage node including: a second storage unit that stores data; a determining unit that determines the second storage unit to be in either the inactive state or the active state according to the state condition; an I/O processing unit that processes an access request transmitted to the first storage node, in place of the controller in the first storage node, by writing data to or reading data from the second storage unit, when the second storage unit is in the active state; and a transmitting unit that transmits management information of the second storage node to the first storage node in the inactive state, deletes management information of the first storage unit temporarily stored in the second storage unit, changes the operating state of the second storage unit to be in the inactive state, and changes into a flag corresponding to a self-inactive state (SLP) indicating the inactive state 0 , when the flag indicates the active state 1 .