Hitachi, Ltd.

Akihiro Mannen

Naoto Matsunami

Ikuya Yagisawa

Masayuki Yamamoto

Yasuyuki Mimatsu

Kenji Muraoka

Masahiro Arai

Kenichi Takamoto

Masahiko Sato

Akira Nishimoto

Hiroshi Arakawa

Junji Ogawa

Kentaro Shimada

Yusuke Nonaka

Yuichi Yagawa

Yoichi Mizuno

Takahiro Fujita

Masaaki Hosouchi

Provided is a disk array system which is connected to a computer and which data is transmitted by the computer, including: a plurality of disk drives for storing user data transmitted by the computer; a cache memory for temporarily storing data sent/received among the computer and the plurality of disk drives; and a control unit for controlling input/output of the data to/from the cache memory, in which the control unit stores user data identification information that is capable of judging whether the user data is stored in a sector of the disk drive. The disk array system according to this invention allows the identification of user data of a disk drive.

Disk array system

The storage system includes a plurality of first disk devices, a plurality of second disk devices, in which a lifetime of the plurality of second disk devices is different from a lifetime of the plurality of first disk devices, and a controller coupled to the plurality of first disk devices and the plurality of second disk devices. The controller configures a first logical unit by the plurality of first disk devices and a second logical unit by the plurality of second disk devices, provides the first and the second logical units to a host computer, and manages a first remaining available time of the first logical unit and a second remaining available time of the second logical unit, on logical unit basis.

Storage system for holding a remaining available lifetime of a logical storage region

In a storage control apparatus provided therein with a battery-backed-up memory device being a combination of a cache memory of a storage device and a system memory on the side of a CPU, an ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit) having a virtual window function is provided to a system. I/O from a front end and/or a back end is performed via a virtual window, thereby making an addition of data integrity code, and performing automatic dual write of data. With such a storage control apparatus provided therein with a battery-backed-up memory being a combination of a CS/DS (Code Storage/Data Storage) and a cache, protection of block data, and dual write into a Cache (user data, control data) are implemented so that the reliability can be kept at the time of data input/output control.

Storage control apparatus with memory backup device

The present invention enables to update a program in a storage control device while processing access requests, without imposing any burden on a host. When execution of updating of a program is commanded from a management terminal, an update control unit starts within the controller which is the object of updating. After a host I/F unit has been connected to an access request processing unit within another controller by a connection control unit, the update control unit updates a program which is stored in a program memory or a boot disk. When this updating is completed, the update control unit reconnects the host I/F unit to its access processing unit by the connection control unit. Since the stored contents of data memories are synchronized, the other access request processing unit can continue processing access requests from the host in place one access request processing unit.

Storage control device and storage system

A disk array includes a drive management unit, which is a program for identifying kinds of disk devices and managing different disk devices separately, and a drive management table for storing information to be utilized by the drive management unit. The disk array further includes a program for managing accumulated time of disk devices. The program includes a drive lifetime setting portion for setting lifetimes of drives, a drive start/stop portion for intentionally starting/stopping ATA disk devices, and an operation time measurement portion for measuring accumulated operation time. Since it is necessary to be conscious of difference in reliability and performance among disk devices when forming a RAID, a drive kind notification unit, which is a program for notifying of the kind of a disk device when forming the RAID, is provided.

A storage system where storage devices themselves have WORM functionality that can be set at any time. The storage system includes storage devices, and a controller for controlling data transmission between the storage devices and an information processor. Each storage device has a storage cell and a fuse at a midpoint on a write control line, and the controller applies a voltage to the fuse to blow it to set WORM for the storage cell.

Storage system

In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a storage system is configured as at least one logical unit including at least one disk device; a controller for executing a read processing or a write processing of data having been stored or to be stored in the logical unit which is a destination of a read request or a write request, in response to the read request or write request transmitted from the computer, wherein the controller receives an instruction from the computer to turn on or off a disk device corresponding to the logical unit; and wherein, based on the instruction, the storage system turns on or off the disk device corresponding to the logical unit independently of disk devices corresponding to the other logical units.

Disk array optimizing the drive operation time

A method of creating a copy of a virtualized storage region in a data processing system for virtualizing the storage region. A server manages the correlation between the virtualized storage region and the physical storage region, utilizes the function of the storage unit for those physical storage regions having a function, and the function for those physical storage regions without the function, to efficiently copy the virtualized storage region.

Computer system with virtualization function

A disk array includes a drive management unit, which is a program for identifying kinds of disk devices and managing different disk devices separately, and a drive management table for storing information to be utilized by the drive management unit. The disk array further includes a program for managing ac-cumulated time of disk devices. The program includes a drive lifetime setting portion for setting lifetimes of drives, a drive start/stop portion for intentionally starting/stopping ATA disk devices, and an operation time measurement portion for measuring accumulated operation time. Since it is necessary to be conscious of difference in reliability and performance among disk devices when forming a RAID, a drive kind notification unit, which is a program for notifying of the kind of a disk device when forming the RAID, is provided.

In a memory apparatus, there are provided a mirror primary LU which is a memory region on a plurality of storage media formed of nD+1P, a mirror secondary LU that is a memory region on a plurality of storage media formed of mD+1P, an n-RAID control subprogram for performing RAID control of nD+1P, an m-RAID control subprogram for performing RAID control of mD+1P, and an LU mirror subprogram for performing writing into the mirror primary LU and mirror secondary LU and then effectuating duplexing or 'mirroring' when a computer issues a data write request. The 'm' and &#x201c;n&#x201d; are different integers more than or equal to 2.

Memory device system and method for copying data in memory device system

A magnetic disk array device is equipped with ATA magnetic disks, at least one disk array controller for controlling the ATA magnetic disks, and at least one processing offload function module provided between the disk array controller and the ATA magnetic disk. The disk array controller outputs one of a standard processing FC command for performing a standard processing such as a read or write processing, and an offload processing FC command for performing a vendor-unique offload processing. The processing offload function module performs a command mapping for the standard processing FC command and issues to the ATA magnetic disk a corresponding ATA command, and prepares a group of ATA commands for the offload processing FC command for optimum processing in an ATA protocol.

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Yokohama, Japan

Akihiro Mannen