Lower power disk array as a replacement for robotic tape storage

A data storage system, comprising

• a plurality of storage devices for storing data, each storage device being normally in a power-off mode, and
• a controller coupled to the storage devices to effect transition of one or more selected ones of said storage devices from a power-off mode to a power-on mode upon receipt of a request for accessing said selected storage devices,
• wherein the controller effects transition of one or more of said selected storage devices from a power-on mode to a power-off mode if no access request is pending for said one or more storage devices for a selected time period.

The storage system of claim 13, wherein said enclosures are disposed in one or more racks.

A method for managing power distribution to a plurality of storage devices, comprising

• maintaining the storage devices normally in a power-off mode, effecting transition of a storage device from a power-off mode to a power-on mode upon receipt of a request for writing data to or reading data from that storage device, and
• effecting transition of a storage device from a power-on mode to a power-off mode if no read/write request is pending for that storage device and a selected time period has elapsed since the receipt of the last read/write request.

In a data storage system, the improvement comprising:

• a plurality of storage devices disposed in an enclosure so as to provide a data storage density in a range of about 100 Megabytes per cubic centimeter to about 10 Gigabytes per cubic centimeter, said storage devices being normally in a power-off mode, and
• one or more controllers coupled to said storage devices to effect transition of one or more storage devices from a power-off mode to a power-on mode upon receipt of a request for accessing those storage devices, the controller further effecting transition of one or more storage devices from a power-on mode to a power-off mode if no access requests are pending for those storage devices and a selected time period has elapsed since the last request for those storage devices.

A data storage system, comprising

• a plurality of magnetic storage devices disposed in a housing,
• wherein said storage devices provide a collective data storage density in a range of about 100 Mbytes per cubic centimeter to about 10 Gigabytes per cubic centimeter of said housing.

A data storage system, comprising

• a plurality of magnetic storage devices disposed in a housing, and
• a controller managing power distribution to said storage devices so as to allow said storage devices to provide a collective data storage density in a range of about 0.5 to about 10 Gigabytes per cubic centimeter of said housing.

The data storage system of claim 29, wherein said storage devices provide a collective data storage capacity of about 25 Terabytes to about 50 Terabytes.