Importance

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Abstract

A mass storage system having at least one input/output controllers in connection with a host computer is disclosed. The mass storage system also includes mirrored storage devices in connection with the input/output controllers through a global cache memory. Each mirrored pair of storage devices is assigned a common logical volume address, but is looked upon by the host computer as a single entity. The cache memory includes dynamically allocable cache slots, which correspond to each common logical volume address. When the host wishes to write data to a pair of mirrored storage devices, the contents of first write operation are written into the appropriate cache slot. However, when a second write operation is received by the input/output controllers, a determination is made as to whether the contents of the second write operation are already in the cache memory. If the contents are in the cache memory, a second write operation is not effectuated, thus improving system performance, but maintaining reliability in the system.

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First Claim