Patent ID: 7904747

Claim:
A method for operating a data storage system having one or more network interfaces and a plurality of data storage nodes configured to provide redundant storage locations, the method comprising: storing a first set of node partitions on a first storage node of the plurality of data storage nodes, each node partition including a corresponding logical partition; storing a second set of node partitions corresponding to the first set of node partitions on a second storage node of the plurality of data storage nodes; following a recovery by the first storage node from a malfunction, determining if a node partition in the first set of node partitions stored in the first storage node is current or noncurrent, wherein said determining comprises: comparing a time that a logical node partition corresponding to the node partition was last modified to a time of an indication of the malfunction, determining that the node partition is current if the time that the logical node partition was last modified occurred prior to the indication of the malfunction minus a predetermined amount of time, and determining that the node partition is noncurrent if the time that the logical node partition was last modified occurred after the indication of the malfunction minus the predetermined amount of time; and processing the node partition according to the determination, wherein determining if the node partition is current or noncurrent comprises determining that a timestamp indicative of the time the logical node partition was modified is more recent than the indication of the malfunction minus the predetermined amount of time.