Virtual profiles for storage-device array encoding/decoding

In one embodiment, a method for accessing a physical storage-device array comprising a plurality of storage devices. The method includes (1) obtaining at least one parameter from a profile selected from two or more profiles concurrently defining two or more virtual arrays, each profile defining (i) a different virtual array associated with a corresponding set of storage devices and (ii) a parameter set of one or more parameters used for accessing the virtual array; and (2) generating an instruction, based on the at least one parameter, for accessing information to the virtual array defined by the selected profile.