Dynamically adjusting a journal snapshot window

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a failure detection module that detects a potential failure of at least a portion of a non-volatile storage device, the non-volatile storage device comprising a journal for tracking metadata changes for data that is stored on the non-volatile storage device prior to committing the metadata changes to metadata for the non-volatile storage device;

a notification receiving module that receives an indication of the potential failure of the non-volatile storage device; and

a snapshot module that adjusts a snapshot window for the journal in response to the indication of the potential failure, the snapshot window comprising a set of metadata changes in the journal that have not been committed to the metadata of the non-volatile storage device.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the snapshot module adjusts the snapshot window by increasing a number of metadata changes that are tracked within the snapshot window prior to committing the metadata changes to the metadata of the non-volatile storage device.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the snapshot module adjusts the snapshot window by reducing a frequency with which the metadata changes within the snapshot window are committed to the metadata of the non-volatile storage device.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a degree to which the snapshot window is adjusted is determined according to a severity of the potential failure of the non-volatile storage device.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the failure detection module is further configured to detect that the non-volatile storage device has recovered from the potential failure.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the failure detection module resets the adjusted snapshot window for the journal in response to detecting that the non-volatile storage device has recovered from the potential failure.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a garbage collection module that postpones garbage collection of data on the non-volatile storage device that is no longer referenced by the metadata.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the garbage collection module postpones garbage collection in response to determining that new data stored on the non-volatile storage device is stored in an area of the non-volatile storage device that may be impacted by the potential failure.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the garbage collection module resumes normal garbage collection in response to the snapshot window of the journal being committed to the metadata for the non-volatile storage device and in response to the potential failure being resolved.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a write module that prevents new data from being written to an area of the non-volatile storage device that may be impacted by the potential failure.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the failure detection module detects the potential failure of the non-volatile storage device in response to one or more of:

detecting a threshold number of parity errors in a redundant array of independent disks (“RAID”) that the non-volatile storage device is part of;

detecting a component in doubt (“CID”) associated with the non-volatile storage device;

detecting a threshold write latency for the non-volatile storage device; and

detecting a threshold number of read errors when using the metadata to read from the non-volatile storage device.

12. A method, comprising:

detecting a potential failure of at least a portion of a non-volatile storage device, the non-volatile storage device comprising a journal for tracking metadata changes for data that is stored on the non-volatile storage device prior to committing the metadata changes to metadata for the non-volatile storage device;

receiving an indication of the potential failure of the non-volatile storage device; and

adjusting a snapshot window for the journal in response to the indication of the potential failure, the snapshot window comprising a set of metadata changes in the journal that have not been committed to the metadata of the non-volatile storage device.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein adjusting the snapshot window comprises increasing a number of metadata changes that are tracked within the snapshot window prior to committing the metadata changes to the metadata of the non-volatile storage device.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein adjusting the snapshot window comprises reducing a frequency with which the metadata changes within the snapshot window are committed to the metadata of the non-volatile storage device.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the degree to which the snapshot window is adjusted is determined according to a severity of the potential failure of the non-volatile storage device.

16. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

detecting that the non-volatile storage device has recovered from the potential failure; and

resetting the adjusted snapshot window for the journal in response to detecting that the non-volatile storage device has recovered from the potential failure.

17. The method of claim 12 , further comprising postponing garbage collection of data on the non-volatile storage device that is no longer referenced by the metadata.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising postponing garbage collection in response to determining that new data stored on the non-volatile storage device is stored in an area of the non-volatile storage device that may be impacted by the potential failure.

19. The method of claim 17 , further comprising resuming normal garbage collection in response to the snapshot window of the journal being committed to the metadata for the non-volatile storage device and in response to the potential failure being resolved.

20. A computer program product, comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to:

detect, by processor, a potential failure of at least a portion of a non-volatile storage device, the non-volatile storage device comprising a journal for tracking metadata changes for data that is stored on the non-volatile storage device prior to committing the metadata changes to metadata for the non-volatile storage device;

receive, by processor, an indication of the potential failure of the non-volatile storage device; and

adjust, by processor, a snapshot window for the journal in response to the indication of the potential failure, the snapshot window comprising a set of metadata changes in the journal that have not been committed to the metadata of the non-volatile storage device.