Patent attributes
Physical storage devices (PSDs) of a protection group cluster (PGC) may be represented by a protection group matrix (PGM) having a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns, where each row corresponds to a PSD of the PGC, and each column corresponds to a partition of each PSD. The value specified in each cell at an intersection of a row and column specifies the protection group of the PGC to which the partition of the PSD represented by the column and row, respectively, is (or will be) assigned. In response to one or more of PSDs being added to a PGC, the PGM may be reconfigured, including adding new rows, and transposing portions of columns to the new rows, or transposing portions of rows to portions of columns of the new rows. Protection members of the PGC may be re-assigned based on the reconfiguration.