Patent ID: 7246262

Claim:
A storage system, comprising: a plurality of storage drives to store data; a plurality of communication loops to connect the plurality of storage drives and to communicate data between the plurality of storage drives; a plurality of controllers to connect the plurality of communication loops and to transfer data to a storage drive included in the plurality of storage drives via a communication loop included in the plurality of communication loops; a plurality of first bypass switches to connect the plurality of storage drives and the plurality of controllers to the plurality of communication loops in a normal state, and to disconnect one or more storage drives included in the plurality of storage drives or one or more controllers included in the plurality of controllers from the plurality of communication loops in a bypass state; and a second bypass switch for each communication loop to disconnect a part of the communication loop included in the plurality of communication loops from another part of the communication loop, and to reconnect the part of the communication loop to the another part of the communication loop, wherein a controller included in the plurality of controllers is configured to control the plurality of first bypass switches and the second bypass switch to connect or disconnect, if the controller detects a failure, and to search where the failure is in a communication loop included in the plurality of communication loops or in one or more storage drives included in the plurality of storage drives, by controlling the plurality of first bypass switches and the second bypass switch to connect or disconnect; and wherein the controller is configured to determine whether the failure is caused by a failure of a storage drive or a failure of a communication loop, based on the normal state or bypass state of the plurality of first bypass switches.