Patent ID: 7340490

Claim:
In a storage network, a method to update a first replica held by a physically remote storage device in said storage network, said method comprising the steps of: instructing a first data replication facility of a first electronic device in said storage network to log one or more writes to a local storage device when said first replica held by said physically remote storage device is unavailable due to a detected error condition in the storage network; determining at said first electronic device when said detected error condition no longer exists in the storage network; upon determination that said detected error condition no longer exists, instructing said first data replication facility of said first electronic device to replicate data corresponding to the one or more writes identified in said log to generate a second replica; outputting said second replica in accordance with a communication protocol from said first electronic device to a second data replication facility of a second electronic device of said physically remote storage device in said storage network to update said first replica; and instructing said first data replication facility of said first electronic device to automatically output said second replica to said second replication facility once generation of said second replica is complete.