Patent attributes
A storage control system generates a striped storage volume in an array of data storage devices. The striped storage volume includes multiple stripe sets, each associated with a different stripe type, and each having stripes that are assigned the stripe type associated with the stripe set. The stripe type represents a block size of the stripes included in the stripe set. A background stripe defragmentation process is performed to defragment stripes in a target stripe set and generate empty stripes. The empty stripes generated by the background stripe defragmentation process are added into an empty stripe set of the striped storage volume. The empty stripes in the empty stripe set have unassigned stripe types. A stripe type is assigned to an empty stripe in the empty stripe which is selected for removal and inclusion in the stripe set associated with the stripe type assigned to the empty stripe.
