Method for Reading File Using Plurality of Tape Media

摘要

A storage system includes a plurality of tape drives connected, to a host, and a buffer configured to temporarily hold data read from the drives. A mechanism loads a plurality of media on which a file has been written to the plurality of drives so as to mount the plurality of media in the plurality of drives and divides the file into a plurality of data portions in an order. The mechanism determines a medium that takes the shortest time to move from a current position of a read head of a corresponding drive to a beginning position of the file and one or more media from which following data portions of the beginning data portion are to be read. The mechanism executes reading of the following data portions from the next media and temporarily holding of the read following data portions in the buffer of the storage system while reading the beginning data portion of the file from the first medium to the host.

主权项

1. A method for reading a file from a plurality of media on which the file has been written, in a storage system including a plurality of drives connected to a host, and a buffer configured to temporarily hold data read from the plurality of drives, the method comprising:
loading the plurality of media on which the file has been written to the plurality of drives to mount the plurality of media in the plurality of drives; dividing the file into a plurality of data portions in an order; determining a first medium from which a first subset of data portions within the plurality of data portions is to be read, the first medium being a medium that takes a shortest time to move from a current position of a read head of a corresponding drive to a beginning position of the file; determining a next medium from which a second subset of data portions within the plurality of data portions are to be read; executing reading of the second subset of data portions from the next medium and temporarily holding of the second subset of data portions in the buffer of the storage system in parallel with reading the first subset of data portions from the first medium to the host; and reading and transmitting the held second subset of data portions to the host in accordance with the order to form the file.