Patent ID: 7139809

Claim:
A computer-based method for managing storage for a plurality of computers coupled via a network, wherein each computer comprises a storage medium, the method comprising: storing a first set of data on the storage media at the plurality of computers, wherein each of the storage media has a respective storage capacity, wherein a first portion of the storage capacity for each storage medium is used for storing the first set of data, and wherein a second portion of the storage capacity for each storage medium is free; aggregating the second portions of the storage capacities for the storage media into a shared storage volume, wherein the shared storage volume is accessible at a first computer of the plurality of computers; and the first computer storing a second set of data on the shared storage volume; storing a copy of at least a portion of information stored on a storage medium of a second computer of the plurality of computers onto a storage medium of a third computer of the plurality of computers; monitoring the second computer for a fail-over condition; detecting the fail-over condition for the second computer; and in response to said detecting, switching signal routing from the second computer to the third computer; wherein said storing the copy of at least a portion of the information onto the storage medium of the third computer further comprises implementing a delta-based backup scheme to store said at least a portion of the information from the storage medium of the second computer onto the storage medium of the third computer prior to said detecting.