Patent ID: 7584378

Claim:
A data storage system, comprising: first and second storage enclosures, each storage enclosure comprising: a disk controller partitioned as first and second controller instances; a plurality of hard disks configured as first and second arrays of disks and managed by the first and second controller instances, respectively; and an intra-enclosure path between the first and second arrays, the intra-enclosure path being disabled during normal operation of the storage system; a first inter-enclosure path between the first array in the first storage enclosure and the first array in the second storage enclosure, the first inter-enclosure path being enabled during normal operation of the storage system; a second inter-enclosure path between the second array in the first storage enclosure and the second array in the second storage enclosure, the second inter-enclosure path being enabled during normal operation of the storage system; and a controller, comprising a first path to the first array in the first enclosure and a second path to the second array in the first enclosure whereby, during normal operation of the system, the first arrays in the first and second enclosures are configured as a first storage loop and the second arrays in the first and second enclosures are configured as a second storage loop, the controller being configured to: detect a failure in the first array of the first enclosure; and enable the intra-enclosure path between the first and second arrays in the second enclosure whereby the second storage loop is reconfigured to include the first array in the second enclosure.