Patent ID: 7136801

Claim:
A data storage system for storing and retrieving data for a host processor, the data storage system comprising: a plurality of different types of physical data storage devices, each physical data storage device having data storage attributes, the data storage attributes of the physical data storage devices differing from one another based on the types of the physical data storage devices; and an outboard storage manager operable with the plurality of physical data storage devices for presenting to a host processor a virtual data storage image having a desired data storage attribute for a particular data storage application by combining different types of at least some of the physical data storage devices, based on the data storage attributes of the physical data storage devices, in an arrangement suitable for providing the desired data storage attribute such that the combined physical data storage device arrangement emulates the virtual data storage image, wherein each physical data storage device individually lacks the desired data storage attribute, the outboard storage manager includes interim storage, wherein the outboard storage manager stores in the interim storage data received from the host processor via the virtual data storage image and then transfers the data from the interim storage to the physical data storage devices of the combined physical data storage device arrangement, wherein the outboard storage manager stores in the interim storage data received from the physical data storage devices of the combined physical data storage device arrangement and then transfers the data from the interim storage to the host processor via the virtual data storage image.