Provided is a storage system and a storage management method, aiming at reducing data movement amount necessary for using an expanded capacity in a distributed RAID. When only A (A is a positive integer) physical storage drives are added, a storage controller selects virtual parcels that are mapped to different physical storage drives among N physical storage drives and are included in different virtual chunks, changes an arrangement of the selected virtual parcels to the added A physical storage drives, and constitutes a new chunk based on unallocated virtual parcels selected from different physical storage drives among the (N+A) physical storage drives.

Techniques for block storage using a hybrid memory device are described. In at least some embodiments, a hybrid memory device includes a volatile memory portion, such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM). The hybrid memory device further includes non-volatile memory portion, such as flash memory. In at least some embodiments, the hybrid memory device can be embodied as a non-volatile dual in-line memory module, or NVDIMM. Techniques discussed herein employ various functionalities to enable the hybrid memory device to be exposed to various entities as an available block storage device.

A hard disk apparatus and a computer system. The hard disk apparatus includes an interface module, a central processing unit (CPU), and a storage module. The interface module is connected to the CPU, and the CPU is connected to the storage module. The CPU communicates with a host using the interface module. The interface module is configured to receive a control instruction transmitted by the host, and transmit the control instruction to the CPU. The CPU is configured to receive the control instruction transmitted by the interface module, and control the storage module according to the control instruction. The CPU is further configured to acquire an execution result of the control instruction, and feed back the execution result to the host using the interface module.

The present application describes embodiments of an interface for coupling flash memory and dynamic random access memory (DRAM) in a processing system. Some embodiments include a dedicated interface between a flash memory and DRAM. The dedicated interface is to provide access to the flash memory in response to instructions received over a DRAM interface between the DRAM and a processing device. Some embodiments of a method include accessing a flash memory via a dedicated interface between the flash memory and a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) in response to an instruction received over a DRAM interface between the DRAM and a processing device.

Described are techniques for storing data. A data access pattern is identified for accessing a first set of data portions of a first logical device, wherein the data access pattern includes a time-ordered list of consecutively accessed logical addresses of the first logical device. The first set of data portions are arranged on a second logical device. The first set of data portions have corresponding logical addresses on the second logical device and such corresponding logical addresses have a consecutive sequential ordering based on the data access pattern. The first set of data portions are stored at physical device locations mapped to the corresponding logical addresses of the second logical device.

Systems and methods for performing a fast resynchronization of a mirrored aggregate of a distributed storage system using disk-level cloning are provided. According to one embodiment, responsive to a failure of a disk of a plex of the mirrored aggregate utilized by a high-availability (HA) pair of nodes of a distributed storage system, disk-level clones of the disks of a healthy plex may be created external to the distributed storage system and attached to the degraded HA partner node. After detection of the cloned disks by the degraded HA partner node, mirror protection may be efficiently re-established by assimilating the cloned disks within the failed plex and then resynchronizing the mirrored aggregate by performing a level-1 resync of the failed plex with the healthy plex based on a base file system snapshot of the healthy plex. In this manner, a more time-consuming level-0 resync may be avoided.

A data logger saves data, collected from outside on a regular basis or at predetermined timing, in any of a plurality of storage media the data logger includes, in accordance with an attribute conforming to types of the data.

Embodiments of the systems and methods disclosed provide a distributed RAID system comprising a set of data banks. More particularly, in certain embodiments of a distributed RAID system each data bank has a set of associated storage media and executes a similar distributed RAID application. The distributed RAID applications on each of the data banks coordinate among themselves to distribute and control data flow associated with implementing a level of RAID in conjunction with data stored on the associated storage media of the data banks.

A method includes error encoding data to produce a plurality of data slices. Metadata is determined for a data slice of the plurality of data slices. The metadata is stored in a metadata storage tree. The data slice is stored in a slice storage location indicated by the metadata. Based on determining to access the data slice, the metadata for the data slice is accessed in the metadata storage tree to determine the slice storage location for the data slice, and the data slice is accessed in the slice storage location based on determining the slice storage location for the data slice via accessing the metadata storage tree.

A method for operating a first data card includes receiving a first signal from at least one sensor of a first set of sensors provided at the first data card. The method continues by detecting, based on the first signal, a movement of the first data card relative to a second data card in a first direction within a pre-selected distance from the second data card, and interpreting the relative movement of the first data card in the first direction as a card pairing gesture. The method continues by establishing a peer-to-peer connection between the first data card and the second data card, in response to the card pairing gesture, and exchanging the data with the second data card over the peer-to-peer connection.