Patent ID: 8621176

Claim:
A method for laying out data on a mass storage subsystem, the method performed by a computing system having a processor and an associated storage area, the method comprising: determining, by the computing system, a set of physical properties associated with the mass storage subsystem; determining, by the computing system, a data chunk width and a maximum separation based on the set of physical properties; defining, by the computing system, a first logical portion of the data storage of the mass storage subsystem based on the determined data chunk width and the determined maximum separation, wherein the first logical portion includes a plurality of data chunks on the mass storage subsystem, each data chunk having a width equal to the determined data chunk width; defining, by the computing system, a second logical portion of the data storage of the mass storage subsystem, wherein the second logical portion is separate from the first logical portion; receiving, by the computing system, a write request specifying data to be written to the mass storage subsystem; determining, by the computing system, a level of service associated with the write request; and selectively writing the data to one of the first logical portion or the second logical portion based on the determined level of service.