Patent ID: 8321646

Claim:
A method for a storage controller to rebalance a plurality of storage components within a storage tier, comprising: maintaining a linked list for each component in the plurality of storage components in the storage tier, wherein each component comprises a plurality of pages, wherein the linked list for each component comprises a plurality of identifiers corresponding to the plurality of pages, wherein the linked list is ordered according to hot and cold pages; calculating a percent range of hot pages and cold pages in the linked list for each component in the plurality of storage components; identifying a fullest component and a least full component within the plurality of storage components; generating a random percent between zero percent and one hundred percent; comparing the random percent to the hot percent range and the cold percent range for the fullest component; if the random percent falls within the hot percent range, selecting a hot page from the fullest component and moving the selected hot page in the fullest component to an empty page in the least full component; and if the random percent falls within the cold percent range, selecting a cold page from the fullest component and moving the selected cold page in the fullest component to an empty page in the least full component.