Patent ID: 8171307

Claim:
A method for encrypting a disk, the disk accessible by a plurality of storage security appliances, and the disk accessed via a storage system, comprising: selecting one of the storage security appliances as a master, and designating all the other storage security appliances as slaves; sending, by the master, a first message to each slave, the first message comprising: (i) a location of a first area of the disk, and (ii) an instruction to block access to the first area; and receiving, by the master, in response to the first message, a second message comprising a location of a second area of the disk designated as blocked from access by a slave, where the second area extends past the first area, and where the slave permits access to unblocked areas of the disk; encrypting, by the master, the contents of the disk, starting with the first area and proceeding on an area-by-area basis, until the entire disk is encrypted; sending, by the master, a third message to each slave, the third message comprising an instruction to block access to a rekey recovery area of the disk; decrypting and then re-encrypting, by the master, a backup of the rekey recovery area of the disk; overwriting, by the master, the rekey recovery area of the disk; sending a fourth message, by the master, to each slave, the fourth message comprising a notice that encryption of the disk is terminated.