Patent ID: 7533292

Claim:
A method of operating a storage controller for managing a Storage system including a primary storage array having a plurality of primary storage units and a spare storage pool having at least one spare storage unit, the method comprising: operating the storage controller to detect any failure in a primary storage unit within the primary storage array; operating the storage controller to migrate data from the primary storage array to the spare storage pool in response to a detection of a failure in the primary storage unit within the primary storage array; operating the storage controller to test at least one repair service threshold in response to the detection of the failure in a storage unit within the primary storage array, the repair service threshold representative of at least one operational condition indicative of a necessity to repair at least one of the primary storage array and the spare storage unit; and operating the storage controller to selectively initiate a repair service action for repairing one of the primary storage array and the spare storage unit based on the testing of the at least one repair service threshold.