Patent ID: 7353240

Claim:
A file sharing method in a storage system, the storage system having a controller and a plurality of disk drives for sharing a file stored in the storage system, and being connected to a first host computer and a second host computer, the first host computer being operatively connected to communicate with said second host computer via a local area network, the storage system being operatively connected to each of the first host computer and the second host computer via a storage area network, the first host computer using a first operating system for managing files using a first format and first file management information, the second host computer using a second operating system for managing files using a second format different from said first format and second file management information, and the storage system storing the first file management information when the file to be shared is stored in the storage system, the first file management information including information of a location of a disk area where the file to be shared is allocated by the first operating system, the second file management information including information of a disk area location capable of being managed by the second operating system, said method comprising the steps of: receiving at the controller a host ID of said second host computer; determining via a host table of the controller a conversion for the second host computer to manage said file to be shared; converting said first file management information into said second file management information; and reading data corresponding to said file to be shared on the basis of said second information from said disk drives by the second host computer.