Patent ID: 7965502

Claim:
A storage device, comprising: an enclosure having an interior space; a plurality of drive connectors provided within the enclosure and to which media drives are connected, the plurality of drive connectors including pre-installed connectors, a first expansion drive connector and a second expansion drive connector, the media drives including at least one pre-installed media drive connected to a respective pre-installed connector of the pre-install connectors, the plurality of drive connectors being arranged in a matrix configuration having a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns; an expansion slot member having a smaller number of expansion drive slots than a number of the at least one pre-installed media drive, a first expansion media drive of the media drives that is inserted via the a first expansion drive slot of the expansion slot member is connected to the first expansion connector, the first expansion media drive installed so as to be detachable by a user, the first expansion drive connector is located in a same column of the plurality of columns of the matrix configuration as the second expansion drive connector; a cooling fan provided in the enclosure; a backboard which is a circuit substrate having at least one of the plurality of drive connectors on a front face of the backboard and which the backboard is disposed so as to divide the interior space of the enclosure in an anteroposterior direction; and a plurality of temperature-dependent devices disposed behind the backboard, wherein air is taken in via an enclosure front face from outside the enclosure as a result of rotation of the cooling fan, flows through the interior space of the enclosure, and then passes through the backboard.