Patent ID: 8522075

Claim:
A storage apparatus comprising: a plurality of storage devices configured to store data; a pair of control devices configured to control the plurality of storage devices, each control device being connected with another control device; a plurality of switches configured to relay data between the control devices and storage devices and being connected with the plurality of storage devices, the plurality of switches being connected between the control devices in series; wherein each of the control devices is configured to control the plurality of storage devices according to a process including: detecting a fault in the connection between the control devices and the switches, said detecting identifying an address associated with the connection of the detected fault, and controlling the access to the storage devices via the switches such that one of the control devices accesses a part of the storage devices via switches located between said one of the control devices and the fault, and said one of the control devices accesses a remainder of the storage devices via a remainder of the switches, respectively, based on the address identified for the fault, and wherein one of the control devices controls to transfer data to other storage devices in other switches which are other than the switches directly connected on either side of the fault, the data being stored on the storage devices in the switches which the fault was detected in the connection of, and then one of the control devices isolates the switches electrically.