Patent ID: 8345366

Claim:
A method, comprising: testing performance of a storage drive when the storage drive is coupled to a storage system such that the storage system is able to utilize the storage drive to store data, wherein testing performance of the storage drive further comprises: testing read performance of the storage drive by issuing at least one read command to the storage drive and evaluating a response of the storage drive to the at least one read command; and testing write performance of the storage drive by issuing a first random command sequence with a first random data transfer length and a second random command sequence with a second random data transfer length to the storage drive and evaluating a response of the storage drive to the first random command sequence with the first random data transfer length and the second random command sequence with the second random data transfer length; storing a result of the testing in the storage system; assigning the storage drive a particular predetermined performance group designation of a plurality of predetermined performance group designations for the storage system based on the result of the testing, wherein the plurality of predetermined performance group designations includes at least a predetermined low performance group designation, a predetermined medium performance group designation, and a predetermined high performance group designation; determining a redundancy group configuration for a plurality of storage drives of the storage system by grouping storage drives of the plurality of storage drives of the storage system with the same particular predetermined performance group designation together; displaying the redundancy group configuration on a display; and receiving user input configuring the storage drives into groups based at least in part on the displayed redundancy group configuration.