Patent ID: 8484506

Claim:
A method for adding a mirroring functionality to a RAID 5, comprising: forming an array using at least three drives for storing data; creating a plurality of data blocks and a parity for the plurality of data blocks based on the data for every (2N−1) th stripe of the array, wherein every (2N−1) th stripe is associated with a succeeding 2N th stripe as its respective 2N th stripe; generating a mirror image of the plurality of data blocks and the parity for the plurality of data blocks for every (2N−1) th stripe to its respective 2N th stripe of the array, wherein the N comprises an integer starting from 1, wherein the generating the mirror image of the plurality of data blocks and the parity comprises shifting each of the plurality of data blocks and the parity for the plurality of data blocks in every 2N th stripe by one drive from the (2N−1) th stripe; and recovering lost data based on the plurality of data blocks and the parity for the plurality of data blocks for every (2N−1) th stripe and its respective 2N th stripe of operational drives of the RAID 5 if the RAID 5 comprises a single failed drive.