Patent ID: 7346733

Claim:
A storage system comprising: a plurality of object-based storage devices (OSDs), each storing one or more objects in an object-based format, such that each object includes data and attribute information for the data; and a logical object-based storage device, the logical object-based storage device created to include the plurality of OSDs, wherein, when a first object having first data and first attribute information is stored to said logical object-based storage device in said object-based format as a logical object, the first object is divided into plural sub-objects by dividing the first data and the first attribute information into plural data portions, wherein, for each sub-object, the plural data portions to be stored in each OSD are stored into each OSD by combining the plural data portions to be stored in that OSD to create a data part of the sub-object for storage in that particular OSD, wherein each OSD creates and stores second attribute information for said data part of said sub-object to be stored into that particular OSD, and each OSD stores the data part of the sub-object with said second attribute information created by that OSD in said object-based format.