Patent ID: 8826065

Claim:
A method for managing storage devices in a storage subsystem having an array of storage devices, the method comprising: receiving an error message; determining that the error message indicates that at least one storage device in the array of storage devices has failed; collecting an array record comprising storage device characteristics of the failed storage device in response to the determining that the error message indicates that the at least one storage device has failed; collating a candidate record comprising a plurality of candidate entries, wherein each candidate entry comprises storage device characteristics for one of a plurality of candidate storage devices; comparing storage device characteristics of the failed storage device of the array record with the storage device characteristics of each of the candidate entries; identifying a first candidate storage device having storage device characteristics that match the storage device characteristics of the failed storage device in response to identifying a candidate entry that matches the storage device of the array record; identifying a second candidate storage device having storage device characteristics most similar to the storage device characteristics of the failed storage device in response to not identifying a candidate entry that matches the failed storage device of the array record; comparing the array record with the candidate entries of a third candidate storage device and either the first or second candidate storage device; and exchanging either the first or second candidate storage device with the third candidate storage device in response to determining that the third candidate storage device has storage device characteristics that are more similar to the storage device characteristics of the array of storage devices than the first or second candidate storage device.