Power controlling method for use in storage device

Abstract

To provide a power controlling method for use in a storage device which can be operated with less power consumption, at least a storage capacity monitoring unit for monitoring the storage amount of data stored in each storage unit, a power-on unit for controlling the power-on of each storage unit, an access state monitoring unit for monitoring the state of accesses from an upper device to each storage unit, and a power-off unit for controlling the power-off of each storage unit are comprised, thereby controlling the power of a second storage unit.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic explaining the outline of a storage device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic exemplifying a configuration of an archive device according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic exemplifying a process performed by an archive device according to a first preferred embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the process performed by the archive device according to the first preferred embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a schematic exemplifying a process performed by an archive device according to a second preferred embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a schematic exemplifying a configuration of a disk device according to the second preferred embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a schematic explaining a data move process performed by the archive device according to the second preferred embodiment; and

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the process performed by the archive device according to the second preferred embodiment.

Claims

1. A storage device, which has a first storage unit for storing data transmitted from an upper device over a long time and a second storage unit for temporarily storing data including part of the data stored in the first storage unit, comprising: a storage capacity monitoring unit for monitoring a storage amount of data stored in a plurality of storage units configuring the second storage unit, and for detecting a storage unit the storage amount of which is a predetermined ratio or higher;a power-on unit for powering on a storage unit by issuing a power-on instruction to the storage unit to be used next to the storage unit detected by said storage capacity monitoring unit;an access state monitoring unit for monitoring a state of accesses from the upper device on the plurality of storage units configuring the second storage unit, and for detecting a storage unit to which no access is made over a predetermined time period; anda power-off unit for powering off storage units by issuing a power-off instruction to the storage unit which stores no data, and the storage unit which stores data up to its maximum storage capacity among storage units detected by said access state monitoring unit.

2. The storage device according to claim 1, further comprising a data collecting unit for identifying one storage unit by extracting a storage unit the data storage amount of which is within a predetermined range from among the storage units detected by said access state monitoring unit, and for moving data stored in the extracted storage unit to the one storage unit.

3. The storage device according to claim 1, wherein said power-on unit powers on a storage unit by issuing the power-on instruction to the storage unit a priority of which is second to the storage unit detected by said storage capacity monitoring unit.

4. The storage device according to claim 3, wherein the priority is an order determined so that a cooling effect produced by cooling units is increased to the highest in a positional relationship between the storage units configuring the second storage unit and the cooling units for cooling down heat produced from the storage units.

5. The storage device according to claim 2, wherein said data collecting unit extracts a storage unit a data storage amount of which is within a predetermined range from among the storage units detected by said access state monitoring unit, and defines a storage unit, a priority of which is the highest among the extracted storage units, to be the one storage unit.

6. The storage device according to claim 5, wherein the priority is determined so that a cooling effect produced by cooling units is increased to the highest in a positional relationship between the storage units configuring the second storage unit and the cooling units for cooling down heat produced from the storage units.

7. A power controlling method for use in a storage device having a first storage unit for storing data transmitted from an upper device over a long time and a second storage unit for temporarily storing data including part of the data stored in the first storage unit, comprising: causing the storage device to perform a storage capacity monitoring process for monitoring a storage amount of data stored in a plurality of storage units configuring the second storage unit, and for detecting a storage unit the storage amount of which is a predetermined ratio or higher;causing the storage device to perform a power-on process for powering on a storage unit by issuing a power-on instruction to the storage unit to be used next to the storage unit detected by the storage capacity monitoring process;causing the storage device to perform an access state monitoring process for monitoring a state of accesses from the upper device in the plurality of storage units configuring the second storage unit, and for detecting a storage unit to which no access is made over a predetermined time period; andcausing the storage device to perform a power-off process for powering off storage units by issuing a power-off instruction to the storage unit which stores no data, and the storage unit which stores data up to its maximum storage capacity among storage units detected by the access state monitoring process.

8. The power controlling method according to claim 7, further comprising causing the storage device to perform a data collecting process for identifying one storage unit by extracting a storage unit a data storage amount of which is within a predetermined range from among the storage units detected by the access state monitoring process, and for moving data stored in the extracted storage unit to the one storage unit.

9. The power controlling method according to claim 7, wherein the power-on process powers on a storage unit by issuing the power-on instruction to the storage unit a priority of which is second to the storage unit detected by the storage capacity monitoring process.

10. The power controlling method according to claim 9, wherein the priority is an order determined so that a cooling effect produced by cooling units is increased to the highest in a positional relationship between the storage units configuring the second storage unit and the cooling units for cooling down heat produced from the storage units.

11. The power controlling method according to claim 8, wherein the data collecting process extracts a storage unit a data storage amount of which is within a predetermined range from among the storage units detected by the access state monitoring process, and defines a storage unit, a priority of which is the highest among the extracted storage units, to be the one storage unit.

12. The power controlling method according to claim 11, wherein the priority is determined so that a cooling effect produced by cooling units is increased to the highest in a positional relationship between the storage units configuring the second storage unit and the cooling units for cooling down heat produced from the storage units.

13. A power controlling program for causing a storage device, which has a first storage unit for storing data transmitted from an upper device over a long time and a second storage unit for temporarily storing data including part of the data stored in the first storage unit, to execute: a storage capacity monitoring process for monitoring a storage amount of data stored in a plurality of storage units configuring the second storage unit, and for detecting a storage unit the storage amount of which is a predetermined ratio or higher;a power-on process for powering on a storage unit by issuing a power-on instruction to the storage unit to be used next to the storage unit detected by the storage capacity monitoring process;an access state monitoring process for monitoring a state of accesses from the upper device in the plurality of storage units configuring the second storage unit, and for detecting a storage unit to which no access is made over a predetermined time period; anda power-off process for powering off storage units by issuing a power-off instruction to the storage unit which stores no data, and the storage unit which stores data up to its maximum storage capacity among storage units detected by said access state monitoring process.

14. The power controlling program according to claim 13, causing the storage device to further execute a data collecting process for identifying one storage unit by extracting a storage unit a data storage amount of which is within a predetermined range from among the storage units detected by the access state monitoring process, and for moving data stored in the extracted storage unit to the one storage unit.

15. The power controlling program according to claim 13, wherein the power-on process powers on a storage unit by issuing the power-on instruction to the storage unit a priority of which is second to the storage unit detected by the storage capacity monitoring process.

16. The power controlling program according to claim 15, wherein the priority is an order determined so that a cooling effect produced by cooling units is increased to the highest in a positional relationship between the storage units configuring the second storage unit and the cooling units for cooling down heat produced from the storage units.

17. The power controlling program according to claim 14, wherein the data collecting process extracts a storage unit a data storage amount of which is within a predetermined range from among the storage units detected by the access state monitoring process, and defines a storage unit, a priority of which is the highest among the extracted storage units, to be the one storage unit.

18. The power controlling program according to claim 17, wherein the priority is determined so that a cooling effect produced by cooling units is increased to the highest in a positional relationship between the storage units configuring the second storage unit and the cooling units for cooling down heat produced from the storage units.