Patent ID: 7788541

Claim:
A method for a RAID controller to identify a storage device of a redundant array of storage devices that is returning corrupt data to the RAID controller, the method comprising: (a) reading data from a location of each storage device in the redundant array of storage devices a first time; (b) detecting that at least one storage device in the redundant array returned corrupt data; (c) in response to said detecting that at least one storage device in the redundant array returned corrupt data, for each storage device in the redundant array, performing the following steps: reading data from the location of the storage device a second time without writing to the location in between said reading the first and second times; comparing the data read from the location of the storage device the first time with the data read from the location of the storage device the second time; and identifying the storage device as a failing storage device if the data read from the storage device the first time miscompares with the data read from the storage device the second time; and (d) updating the location of each storage device to a new location and repeating steps (a), (b), and (c) for the new location.