Patent ID: 8001417

Claim:
A storage-system-implemented method for repairing a defective storage device in a physical storage-device array having a plurality of storage devices, comprising: a. a storage system receiving a plurality of data storage or retrieval requests from an upstream device; b. the storage system transmitting the plurality of data storage or retrieval requests to the physical storage-device array; c. the storage system receiving responses from the physical storage-device array in response to a first subset of requests among the plurality of data storage or retrieval requests; d. the storage system identifying, from among the plurality of data storage or retrieval requests transmitted to the physical storage-device array, a second subset of requests for which physical storage-device array responses have not been received; e. the storage system identifying an error associated with the defective storage device; f. the storage system effecting error recovery based on the error by: i. the storage system processing one or more outstanding data storage or retrieval requests among the second subset of requests, in order to identify at least one request corresponding to the error, wherein processing one or more outstanding data storage or retrieval requests includes storing response and status information associated with the request being processed; and ii. the storage system generating a new data storage request instructing the physical storage-device array having the defective storage device to store valid data associated with the data storage or retrieval request corresponding to the error, whereby the defective storage device is repaired.