High density computer equipment storage system

A method of cooling computers that are mounted back-to-back in at least one rack to form a computer system having a channel for air between said back-to-back computers comprising:

• passing a quantity of air sufficient to cool said computers from said channel into, through, and out of each computer.

A method of cooling computers situated in an air environment that are back-to-back in at least one rack and having a channel for air between said back-to-back computers comprising:

• drawing a quantity of air sufficient to cool the computers from said environment through each computer into said channel and out said at least one rack.

A method of cooling computers situated in an air environment that are back-to-back in at least one rack and having a channel for air between said back-to-back computer comprising:

• passing a quantity of air sufficient to cool the computers through each computer without recirculation of the air, wherein the quantity of air either (1) enters the space and flows out through the computers or (2) flows into the computers and exits out of the space.

A computer comprising:

• a main board having an I/O shield mounted thereon;
• and
• a chassis having a height between about 1U and 3U and providing ports on a single side of said chassis for receiving said I/O shield and all components requiring intermittent access provided for said computer.

A computer system comprising:

• at least one computer module and at least one array module, each having a front and a back opposite the front, said computer modules each including a main board and a power supply, said array modules each including multiple data storage devices, said computer module connected back-to-back to said array modules.

A computer comprising:

• a thermal control unit and a chassis having a front section and an opposing back section and defining a main board compartment and a power supply compartment, at least one fan in each compartment, said thermal control unit configured to turn on and off said at least one fan in each compartment to help maintain a constant temperature in each compartment of the computer and to move air through the chassis either from the front section to the back section or from the back section to the front section.

A set of computers comprising:

• at least one rack and at least two computers, each computer having a front section and a back section, two of said computers being placed in a back-to-back configuration in said rack, wherein said computers are configured so components requiring intermittent physical access are provided in the front of the computers and wherein a spacer is provided between a mounting flange of a computer and an attachment area of said rack.

A set of computers comprising:

• at least one rack and at least two computers, each computer having a front section and a back section, two of said computers being placed in a back-to-back configuration in said rack, wherein said computers are configured a.) so components requiring intermittent physical access are provided in the front of the computers, and b.) wherein at least one of the computers is affixed to the rack with an offset flange that advances the front section of the computer beyond an attachment area of said rack.