Storage drive activity monitor

A system comprising:

• at least one drive unit, each drive unit comprising:
• a mounting tray configured to hold a storage drive;
• a light pipe coupled to a light-emitting diode (LED) of the storage drive;
• and
• a light sensing module coupled to the light pipe and configured to:
• receive a light signal from the LED, and
• generate a serialized electrical signal based on the light signal, wherein the serialized electrical signal indicates activity of the storage drive;
• a display element;
• and
• a controller communicatively coupled to at least one light sensing module and configured to:
• receive a respective serialized electrical signal from each light sensing module;
• generate status information based on the respective serialized electrical signals;
• and
• output the status information via the display element.

A method comprising:

• generating, at each of a plurality of light sensing modules, a serialized electrical signal based on light signals from a storage drive, wherein the serialized electrical signal indicates activity of the storage drive;
• receiving, at a controller, the respective serialized electrical signals from each light sensing module;
• generating status information based on the respective serialized electrical signals;
• and
• outputting the status information via a display element.