American Megatrends, Inc.

American Megatrends International, LLC

Amzetta Technologies, LLC

Venugopalreddy Mallavaram

Paresh Chatterjee

Anandh Mahalingam

Narayanaswami Ganapathy

Sankarji Gopalakrishnan

Srikumar Subramanian

Loganathan Ranganathan

Senthilkumar Ramasamy

Sharon Samuel Enoch

Described herein are systems and methods for performing TRIM commands in a data storage system. An example data storage system can include physical storage including a solid state drive (SSD), and a storage system computer operably coupled to the physical storage. The storage system computer can include a processing unit and a memory operably coupled to the processing unit. The data storage system can further include a distributed volume management (DVM) module stored in the memory that, when executed by the processing unit, causes the processing unit to: allocate a logical volume from the physical storage; subdivide the logical volume into a plurality of logical blocks; maintain a mapping table for tracking the logical blocks of the logical volume; and in response to a predetermined event, execute a TRIM command for one or more unused data blocks of the SSD.

Systems and methods for using the TRIM command with solid state devices

A computer-implemented method for predicting a risk of disk failure is described herein. The method can include collecting a performance parameter for respective disks in a group of disks, and calculating an expected value of the performance parameter for the group of disks. The method can also include comparing a respective value of the performance parameter for a respective disk in the group of disks to the expected value, and predicting a risk of disk failure based on the comparison. For example, when a difference between the respective value of the performance parameter for the respective disk and the expected value exceeds a threshold, the respective disk may be at risk of failing.

Systems, devices and methods for predicting disk failure and minimizing data loss

An example computer-implemented method for restoring data consistency in a RAID array can include detecting failure of a disk of the RAID array, maintaining tracking information for write input/output ('I/O') operations that effect a data block or a parity block stored on the failed disk, re-commissioning the failed disk and re-synchronizing the RAID array using the tracking information. The tracking information can be used to restore consistency to at least one of the data stripes. For example, the RAID array can store data in one or more data stripes, where each data stripe has a plurality of data and parity blocks. Additionally, the data stripes to which consistency is restored can include a data block or a parity block that is stored on the re-commissioned disk and that is effected by the write I/O operations and stored on the re-commissioned disk.

Systems, methods and devices for performing fast RAID re-synchronization using a RAID sandwich architecture

A method for managing a caching medium for a storage system includes providing an SSD cache including a plurality of cache lines, providing a data structure including a plurality of buckets for managing the SSD cache, and providing a plurality of cache headers for managing the cache lines. Each cache line has a first predetermined size, and each bucket corresponds to a contiguous region of a physical storage capacity having a second predetermined size. Each cache header associates a cache line and a corresponding data block stored in the data storage system. The method also includes assigning two or more cache headers for cache lines associated with corresponding data blocks stored in a same contiguous region of the physical storage capacity to a same bucket, and maintaining the two or more cache headers as a first group of cache headers within the same bucket.

Systems, devices and methods using a solid state device as a caching medium with a hashing algorithm to maintain sibling proximity

An example computer-implemented method for performing efficient patrol read operations in a storage system including a plurality of disks organized in a RAID array can include determining an I/O load on the storage system, identifying at least one portion of an available storage capacity containing valid data and reading the portion of the available storage capacity containing the valid data. Optionally, the portion of the available storage capacity containing the valid data is the only portion read during the patrol read operations. The method can also include determining whether a medium error exists in the portion of the available storage capacity containing the valid data. If a medium error exists, the method can include fixing the medium error. Additionally, the above operations can optionally be performed only when the I/O load on the storage system is less than a predetermined threshold.

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Duluth, GA, United States of America

Venugopalreddy Mallavaram