Patent ID: 8732364

Claim:
A method of simulating storage device functionality, comprising: providing a device coupled to the storage device, wherein the device is separate from the storage device; having the device handle I/O requests between an application and the storage device; and in response to the application issuing an I/O request, having the device determine if the I/O request corresponds to data on the storage device that is subject to a simulation mode, and, if so, having the device provide functionality that would otherwise be handled by the storage device to respond to the I/O request, wherein the device simulates the functionality of the storage device to provide the functionality instead of the storage device, wherein the device determines the functionality of the storage device that is being simulated independently of a manner in which the data on the storage device is subject to actual functionality of the storage device, wherein the device determines whether the actual functionality of the storage device conflicts with the simulated functionality of the storage device determined by the device, and wherein, upon determining that the actual functionality of the storage device conflicts with the simulated functionality, the device inhibits performance of the actual functionality of the storage device even though the storage device permits the functionality.