A method and apparatus for storing data in a mass storage system
implementing striped RAID technology by topological categorization and
ordering of the data according to the topology of the storage areas. A
mass storage system includes a mass storage space for storing data items
of a plurality of data types. Each data item contains data of a
corresponding data type and each data type is defined by the
characteristics of the information represented by the data. The storage
space is topologically organized as a plurality of basic units of storage
space containing a predetermined number of data blocks of predetermined
sizes. A data classifier categorizes each data item as a member of a data
type and, for each data type, orders the data of the data items into one
or more data block groups in a corresponding write buffer wherein each
data block group corresponds to a basic unit of storage, and writes each
data item into a corresponding data type area of the storage space. The
data types include structured data types having defined data
characteristics and a general data type having variable data
characteristics and the general data type includes a full-basic unit data
type wherein the data forms one or more data block groups conforming to
the basic unit of storage space, and a partial-basic unit data type.
