A method and apparatus for mirroring data stored in a storage device in a
mass storage system by caching mirror coherency synchronization operation
requests (break mirror and/or snapshot) from the operating system of a
server and rapidly sending an acknowledgement to the server that the
mirror operation has been completed. Thereafter, the mass storage system
performs the flushing and mirroring processes to establish a mirror of
the storage device at a time that is appropriate and convenient for the
mass storage system to perform such mirroring. To facilitate such a
mirror operation at a later time, the mass storage system may utilize a
mirror table containing information concerning the mirror request. This
information enables the mass storage system to subsequently flush the
cache of data that is pertinent to a time before the mirror request
occurred. Consequently, the mirror operation only mirrors data that would
have been available for mirroring at the time the mirror request was
received from the server. In this manner, the servers are not halted to
facilitate mirroring and the mass storage system may mirror the storage
device at a convenient time.