Patent ID: 8910030

Claim:
A method comprising: identifying a parity pattern for parity block distribution for N storage devices, wherein the parity pattern for the N storage devices is based on a repeat interval that indicates a number of stripes before the parity pattern for the N storage devices repeats; determining a least common multiple of the repeat interval and N+1, wherein N is a number of the storage devices and N+1 represents addition of a storage device to the N storage devices; creating a parity pattern for parity block distribution for the N+1 storage devices based on the parity pattern for the N storage devices, using the determined least common multiple as a second repeat interval, and a number of parity blocks indicated for each of the N storage devices, wherein said determining the parity pattern for the N+1 storage devices comprises, for each second repeat interval of stripes, transferring a number of parity block indications from representation of the N storage devices to representation of an additional storage device, wherein the number of transferred parity block indications is based on N+1 and the number of parity blocks indicated for each of the N storage devices; and redistributing the parity blocks from the N storage devices to the additional storage device based, at least in part, on the parity pattern for the N+1 storage devices.