A storage cluster is provided. The storage cluster includes a plurality of storage nodes within a single chassis. Each of the plurality of storage nodes has nonvolatile solid-state memory for storage of user data. The plurality of storage nodes are configured to distribute the user data and metadata throughout the plurality of storage nodes with erasure coding of the user data such that the plurality of storage nodes can access the user data, via the erasure coding, with a failure of two of the plurality of storage nodes. The plurality of storage nodes are configured to employ the erasure coding to reconfigure redundancy of the user data responsive to one of adding or removing a storage node

A data storage service receives a request to store data into a data storage system that consists of many physical data storage locations, each location having various physical characteristics. The data storage service determines a proper location for the data based on data placement rules applied to the physical data storage locations such that a set of proper locations is identified. The data storage service can place the data according to data placement rules.

An information handling system includes a plurality of physical disks, a memory to store metadata for the physical disks, and a controller. The controller is configured to communicate with the physical disks and with the memory. The controller to receive a request to enable a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) mode on the physical disks, to allocate a portion of the memory to store the metadata while in the RAID mode, to store the metadata for the physical disks in each of the physical disks and in the portion of the memory, and to update and synchronize the metadata in response to a configuration change of the physical disks.

A method includes identifying a data object for retrieval. The data object is encoded in accordance with first encoded parameters and stored as a plurality of sets of encoded data slices in a set of storage units. The method further includes determining whether an access metric regarding the data object exceeds an access threshold. When the access metric is equal to or exceeds the access threshold, the data object is further encoded in accordance with second encoding parameters and stored as a second plurality of sets of encoded data slices in a second set of storage units. The method further includes issuing retrieval requests to the second set of storage units regarding the second plurality of encoded data slices in accordance with a read threshold of the second encoding parameters. The method further includes recovering the data object from the second plurality of encoded data slices.

The present invention provides a data storage system and method. A controller is connected to a plurality of disk arrays, and each disk array is provided with a data protection unit for data protection. When one disk drive of one of the disk arrays is damaged, this disk array is defined as a damaged disk array, while other disk arrays without disk drives being damaged are defined as at least one normal disk array. The controller stops to write a new written data into the damaged disk array, while write the new written data into the normal disk arrays. The new written data will be protected by the data protection units of the normal disk arrays. Thereby, continuous data protection for the new written data by the data protection units together with preservation of storage performance of the system, after the disk drive is damaged, may be achieved.

Exemplary embodiments provide a way to manage data recovery in a distributed system having multiple data store nodes. A storage system comprises: a first node including a first processor; and a plurality of second nodes coupled to the first node, each of the plurality of second nodes including a second processor and one or more second storage devices. The first processor is configured to control to store data and replication of the data in the second storage devices of two or more second nodes. If at least one of the second nodes has failed and a storage capacity of the plurality of second nodes is below a given threshold, one of the second nodes is configured to receive a first data, which is replication of data stored in a failed second node, from another of the second nodes, and create parity data based on the received first data.

A storage cluster is provided. The storage cluster includes a plurality of storage nodes within a single chassis. Each of the plurality of storage nodes has nonvolatile solid-state memory for storage of user data. The plurality of storage nodes are configured to distribute the user data and metadata throughout the plurality of storage nodes with erasure coding of the user data such that the plurality of storage nodes can access the user data, via the erasure coding, with a failure of two of the plurality of storage nodes. The plurality of storage nodes are configured to employ the erasure coding to reconfigure redundancy of the user data responsive to one of adding or removing a storage node.

When an access metric regarding an encoded data object exceeds an access threshold, a method begins by a processing module of a dispersed storage network (DSN) retrieving encoded data slices of a first plurality of sets of encoded data slices and recovering the data object utilizing first dispersed storage error encoding parameters. The method continues with the processing module re-encoding the recovered data object using second dispersed storage error encoding parameters to produce a re-encoded data object, where the re-encoded data object includes a second plurality of sets of encoded data slices. The method continues with the processing module outputting the second plurality of sets of encoded data slices to storage units of the DSN for storage therein and sending a message to retrieving devices of the DSN, where the message indicates use of the second plurality of sets of encoded data slices for the data object.

A storage device may include a storage medium configured to store data of an external device; and a storage controller configured to control an operation of the storage medium. The storage controller is configured to receive a storage request for the data and an external trust level of the data from the external device, determine an internal trust level of the data as one of a plurality of internal trust levels based on the external trust level in consideration of a status of the storage medium, group the data into unit data having an arbitrary size corresponding to the determined internal trust level, generate parity information corresponding to the determined internal trust level based on the grouped data, and control an operation of storing the grouped data and the parity information in the storage medium.

A storage device may include a storage medium configured to store data of an external device; and a storage controller configured to control an operation of the storage medium. The storage controller is configured to receive a storage request for the data and an external trust level of the data from the external device, determine an internal trust level of the data as one of a plurality of internal trust levels based on the external trust level in consideration of a status of the storage medium, group the data into unit data having an arbitrary size corresponding to the determined internal trust level, generate parity information corresponding to the determined internal trust level based on the grouped data, and control an operation of storing the grouped data and the parity information in the storage medium.