Patent ID: 7958303

Claim:
A method for managing available storage space in a plurality of storage devices comprising stored data files configured in accordance with one or more data storage schemes, the method comprising: determining, by reference to a mapping table associated with each of the plurality of storage devices, the available locations and amount of available space in the storage devices; changing the one or more data storage schemes for one or more of the stored data files to a basic storage mode when a size of a new data file configured in accordance with an assigned data storage scheme exceeds the amount of available space in the storage devices; storing the new data file configured in accordance with the assigned data storage scheme in one or more of the available locations in the storage devices; and recording the locations of the new data file in the mapping table in each of the plurality of storage devices; wherein the one or more data storage schemes are selected from the group consisting of mirroring, striping and parity-striping.