Storage system device management

A system comprising:

• a first plurality of storage resources provisioned as a storage volume to store data;
• a second plurality of storage resources provisioned as assist drives that operate separately from the storage volume to store copies of certain of the data such that read requests associated with the certain of the data are fulfilled either by the storage volume or by one of the assist drives;
• and
• a controller to determine a number of the assist drives that are extraneous to providing a desired performance metric associated with the read requests, and to power down the determined number of the assist drives.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

• receive, at a storage system that includes a storage volume and a plurality of storage devices that operate separately from the storage volume, read requests directed to data stored on the storage volume;
• replicate certain data stored on the storage volume to the storage devices such that read requests associated with the certain data are fulfilled either by the storage volume or by the storage devices;
• determine first usage information that is indicative of actual or expected usage of the storage system at a first time;
• and
• power down at least one of the storage devices based on the first usage information.