System and method for managing information storage among plural disk drives

Abstract

A system and method are disclosed for managing information storage among plural disk drives. In accordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the system includes plural host interfaces and first and second elements. The first and second elements each comprise a set of disk drives for storing information. Each of the first and second elements is associated with an element frame. Each disk drive included in the first element is connected to a different one of the plural host interfaces during the element frame of the first element. The system includes a switch controller, configurable by at least one of the plural host interfaces, for selecting among the first and second elements, and for directing information from a first one of the plural host interfaces to a selected disk drive within the first element. The system also includes a frame controller for controlling a duration of each element frame.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.