Patent ID: 7594066

Claim:
A storage system comprising: an external apparatus and a storage apparatus mutually connected through a first communication network; and a management apparatus respectively connected to the external apparatus and the storage apparatus through a second communication network separate from the first communication network, wherein the storage apparatus includes: a storage unit having rewritable nonvolatile memory devices; a controller that controls the storage unit; a plurality of logical devices based on storage regions possessed by the memory devices; and an internal refresh processing unit for performing refresh relating to the logical devices; the external apparatus includes: an external refresh processing unit for performing refresh relating to the logical devices through the storage apparatus; and the management apparatus includes: a management table that respectively manages beforehand, for each the logical device, the refresh time and information indicating which of the internal refresh processing or the external refresh processing is to be selected; and a starting up unit that issues to the storage apparatus or external apparatus a command for starting up refresh processing of the selected one of the internal refresh processing or the external refresh processing.