Patent ID: 8745327

Claim:
A method for controlling prioritization of tiering and spin down features in a data storage system, the method comprising: in a data storage array comprising a plurality of physical data storage disks for storing data: logically dividing storage collectively provided by the physical data storage disks into logical units spanning plural different physical data storage disks and dividing the logical units into slices; identifying data that is infrequently accessed, wherein identifying data that is infrequently accessed includes identifying slices on different physical data storage disks containing infrequently accessed data; relocating the infrequently accessed data to a subset of the physical data storage disks designated for storing infrequently accessed data, wherein relocating the infrequently accessed data includes consolidating the identified slices from the different physical data storage disks to the designated subset of physical data storage disks; and after consolidating the identified slices to the designated subset of physical data storage disks, reducing the spin rate of the designated subset of physical data storage disks.