Statistical power handling in a scalable storage system

A method of operating a data storage assembly, the method comprising:

• in a plurality of storage drives each comprising a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) host interface and solid state storage media, storing and retrieving data responsive to storage operations received over an associated PCIe host interface;
• in a PCIe switch circuit coupled to the PCIe host interfaces of the plurality of storage drives, receiving the storage operations issued by one or more host systems over a shared PCIe interface and transferring the storage operations for delivery to the plurality of storage drives over selected ones of the PCIe host interfaces;
• in a control processor, monitoring usage statistics of the plurality of storage drives;
• and
• in power control circuitry providing power to the plurality of storage drives and selectively removing the power from ones of the plurality of storage drives based at least on the usage statistics of the plurality of storage drives.

A data storage module, comprising:

• a plurality of storage drives each configured to store and retrieve data responsive to storage operations received over associated host interfaces;
• communication circuitry coupled to the host interfaces of the plurality of storage drives and configured to receive the storage operations issued by one or more host systems over a shared interface and transfer the storage operations for delivery to the plurality of storage drives over selected ones of the host interfaces;
• and
• power control circuitry configured to monitor usage statistics of the plurality of storage drives, and selectively remove power from ones of the plurality of storage drives based at least on the usage statistics of the plurality of storage drives.