Universal slide mounted adaptor for storage devices

Abstract

Disclosed herein is an array of daisy chained slides for receiving carrier mounted electrical devices for connection with electrical equipment. The daisy chained array includes a bus cable having two ends and a data connector attached at each end. The bus cable is adapted for connection with the electrical equipment. The array also includes a plurality of slides, each slide having a slide data connector. Each data connector is attached to the cable between the ends in a daisy chained fashion. Each of the slides is adapted to receive a carrier compatible for sliding and mating connection with the slide. The carrier includes an electrical device, such as a hard or floppy disk. The carrier has a carrier data connector for mating with the slide data connector. The carrier data connector is attached to one end of a stub cable. The other end of the stub cable is attached to a device data connector for connection with the electrical device. In a typical application the slides are mounted within an enclosure including a power supply. The daisy chained array is used to extend a SCSI bus. Carrier mounted hard disks are then conveniently removed and installed while the system continues to operate. The carrier also includes a switch for assigning an identification number to the electrical device.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.