Patent ID: 8151079

Claim:
A method for allocating storage area in a storage device, which is coupled to a host computer, the storage device comprising: a memory having priority allocation management information; a physical drive; and a controller providing the physical drive as a logical volume to the host computer, wherein the priority allocation management information includes an identifier of the logical volume and an identifier of a storage area of the physical drive, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a write request from the host computer; confirming whether or not the logical volume of the write request is allocated to a storage area; allocating a storage area to the logical volume of the write request by referring the priority allocation management information when the storage area of the write request is not allocated; and wherein the storage device is further coupled to a server, wherein the method further comprises the steps of: receiving configuration information from the server; and updating the priority allocation management information by referring to the configuration information; wherein the server comprises volume group management information which includes an identifier of a volume group and an identifier of the logical volume, and wherein the configuration information indicates that an unallocated storage area of the physical drive is allocated as a storage area of the priority allocation management information evenly to the logical volumes of the volume group when the storage area is unallocated and the volume group of the unallocated storage area includes the plurality of identifiers of the logical volume.