Patent ID: 8380961

Claim:
A method for formatting storage volumes, comprising: creating, in a memory device, a storage volume comprising a global counter and partitioned into a plurality of storage segments, wherein each storage segment comprises a respective segment counter and is partitioned into a plurality of stripes and wherein the global counter and each respective segment counter match at an initial time; releasing, from the memory device at a first time, the plurality of storage segments to one or more requesting entities prior to completely reformatting the storage volume; incrementing the global counter in response to releasing the plurality of storage segments such that the global counter and each respective segment counter no longer match at the first time; and enabling a user to write data to the plurality of storage segments prior to completely reformatting the storage volume in response to incrementing the global counter, wherein enabling the user to write data to the plurality of storage segments in response to incrementing the global counter and prior to completely reformatting the storage volume comprises: receiving a command to write first data to a first stripe in a first storage segment subsequent to the first time, comparing a first segment counter associated with the first storage segment and the global counter, determining if the first segment counter and the global counter match, and re-initializing first metadata associated with the first storage segment to indicate that each of the plurality of stripes in the first storage segment require formatting if the first segment counter and the global counter do not match.