Patent ID: 8627151

Claim:
A system for maximizing availability of data, the system comprising: a memory device; and a computer processor in communication with the memory device, wherein the memory device has sets of instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by the computer processor, cause the computer processor to: identify a set of operating characteristics for each of a plurality of hard disks, the set of operating characteristics affecting the availability of data of the plurality of hard disks, wherein at least one of the operating characteristics includes a mean time to failure of the plurality of hard disks; calculate, based at least in part on the operating characteristics of the plurality of hard disks, a first estimated mean time to data loss for a set of disks, the first estimated mean time to data loss corresponding to a first configuration of the set of disks, the first configuration defined based at least in part on a first selection of configurable options; calculate, based at least in part on the operating characteristics of the plurality of hard disks, a second estimated mean time to data loss for the set of disks, the second estimated mean time to data loss corresponding to a second configuration of the set of disks, the second configuration defined based at least in part on a second selection of configurable options, wherein a scrubbing rate of a configuration that exceeds a write rate to the set of disks improves the mean time to failure of that set of disks; select, from among at least the first configuration and the second configuration, a configuration with the scrubbing rate which exceeds the write rate to the set of disks and a greatest estimated mean time to data loss; and configure, according to the selected configuration, a disk group from the set of disks.