MODIFIED BUDDY SYSTEM FOR MANAGING DISK SPACE

A modified buddy system is adopted for managing disk space in a disk storage. The modified buddy system uses a minimal amount of memory space and provides very quick access to extents within the disk space. The modified buddy system utilizes a tree structure of nodes, wherein each node represents an extent of disk space. A bitmap is provided for holding state bits for each of the nodes in the tree structure. The bitmap is organized to preserve locality of reference.