Patent ID: 7454529

Claim:
A protectable data storage system, the system comprising: a disk system comprising a plurality of disk modules, each disk module including a disk, a disk driver, and a disk controller wherein the disk driver is disposed between the disk controller and the disk; at least one power supply coupled to each disk module, wherein a total amount of power that can be generated from the at least one power supply is less than an amount of power required to power all disk modules in the disk system; at least one conduit that supplies at least one of power and digital data to each disk module, the disk controller regulates the at least one of power and digital data supplied to the disk module so that power is supplied for data transfer in increments less than a maximum disk system power level from the at least one power supply based on a percentage of capacity that is being used within the disk system; and at least one connector mechanism disposed within at least one of the plurality of disk modules between the disk controller and the disk driver, the at least one connector mechanism providing electrical communication between the disk controller and the disk driver, the at least one connector mechanism having a first position, in which the disk controller and the disk driver are in electrical communication, and a second position, in which the disk controller is physically and electrically disconnected from the disk driver preventing the at least one of power and digital data from reaching the disk driver and preventing data from being transferred between the disk and the at least one conduit.