Patent ID: 7739446

Claim:
A method for managing disk space in a first device, said first device comprises: an interface; a processor; a memory; and a plurality of physical disks, wherein said first device provides at least one virtual volume as a storage resource to a host device and is coupled with a second device presenting at least one second storage volume configured with a plurality of physical storages in the second devices as a storage resource to the first device, the method for managing disk space in the first device comprising: managing a plurality of segments, including a first segment from at least one first storage volume configured with a plurality of physical storages in the first device and a second segment from the at least one second storage volume configured with a plurality of physical storages in the second device as free segments in a free segment pool; mapping the first and second segments from the free segment pool to the at least one virtual volume so as to present the first and second segments via the virtual volume to the host device; adding another segment from one of the at least one first storage volume of the first device or at least one second storage volume of the second device to the free segment in the free segment pool.