Patent ID: 8332582

Claim:
A storage system for storing data from a computer onto a medium via a network, comprising: a storage controller, wherein the storage controller comprises: a channel controller coupled to the network, a cache memory that temporarily stores data related to data stored onto a first medium and a second medium, a first medium controller, coupled to the first medium, for controlling access to the first medium, a second medium controller, coupled to the second medium, for controlling access to the second medium, a first communication path for directly transferring data between the first medium controller and the channel controller, a second communication path for transferring data between the cache memory and the first medium controller, or between the cache memory and the second medium controller, and a third communication path for transferring data between the channel controller and the cache memory, wherein the first medium is comprised of a plurality of flash memories, and wherein the channel controller receives a read request from the computer, and when target data of the read request is not stored in the cache memory but stored in the first medium, the channel controller instructs the first medium controller to control the first medium to directly transfer the target data from the first medium using the first communication path.