End-to-end data protection supporting multiple CRC algorithms

摘要

End-to-end data protection using a plurality of cyclic-­redundancy-check (CRC) algorithms in which a data block 210 protected by a first CRC 212a is received from a first host device, for example via a data path such as a SAN fabric. The first CRC is generated using a first CRC algorithm. The integrity of the received data block is checked using the first CRC and the first CRC algorithm. A second CRC 212b for the data block is computed using a second CRC algorithm different from the first CRC algorithm. The data block, the first CRC, and the second CRC are stored on a storage medium, such as magnetic tape. A CRC algorithm identifier 500 may be appended to the data written to storage which indicates the CRC algorithm used by the host. When retrieving data blocks from the storage medium the host can specify which of the first or second CRC algorithm to use; the data is read and checked using that algorithm, and optionally the other algorithm, before being returned with the chosen CRC.