Removable disk drive with separable electrical and mechanical components
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsKamal Emile Dimitri, Robert George Emberty, Craig Anthony Klein, Daniel James Winarksi
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A disk drive has discrete, modular mechanical and electrical devices. The mechanical device includes a casing to which is mounted a drive motor, disks, and an actuator that is driven by a voice coil motor. The actuator supports transducers for interacting with the disks. The electrical device is attached to a backplane and provides various control and data communication functions for the mechanical device with a host computer. In addition, each of the mechanical and electrical components has a mating connector for detachably interfacing with each other.
Claims14
A data storage system, comprising:
- a backplane adapted to interface with a processor;
- an electrical device for a data storage assembly electrically interconnected with the backplane and having a first connector;
- and
- a mechanical device for the data storage assembly having a second connector for detachably coupling with the first connector, and wherein the electrical device provides power to and control of the mechanical device when the mechanical device is coupled thereto.
A disk drive assembly for a disk drive library, comprising:
- a backplane adapted to interface with a host computer;
- an electrical device for the disk drive assembly electrically interconnected with the backplane, the electrical device having a first connector, a controller, and memory;
- a mechanical device for the disk drive assembly having a second connector for detachably coupling with the first connector, wherein the mechanical device utilizes an actuator and a disk that are each movably mounted to a casing such that the actuator has a transducer for reading data from and writing data to the disk;
- and wherein
- the electrical device provides power to and control of the mechanical device when the mechanical device is coupled thereto.
A disk drive library, comprising:
- a host computer;
- a backplane for interfacing with the host computer;
- at least one electrical device electrically interconnected with the backplane, the electrical device having a first connector, a controller, and memory;
- a plurality of mechanical devices, each having a second connector for detachably coupling with the first connector, wherein each of the mechanical devices utilizes an actuator and disks that are movably mounted to a casing such that the actuator has transducers for reading data from and writing data to the disks;
- and wherein
- an operational hard disk drive assembly is formed when one of the mechanical devices is coupled to the electrical device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.