Patent ID: 8078770

Claim:
A method for providing an activity indicator for a mass storage device, the method comprising: receiving data on a first serial general purpose input/output (SGPIO) interface; receiving data on a second SGPIO interface; illuminating an the activity indicator for the mass storage device when either the data received on the first SGPIO interface or the data received on the second SGPIO interface indicates that the mass storage device is active; illuminating a rebuild indicator for the mass storage device when the combination of the data received on the first SGPIO interface and the data received on the second SGPIO interface indicates that the mass storage device is being rebuilt, wherein the first SGPIO interface, the second SGPIO interface, activity indicator, and the rebuild indicators are configured on a single storage backplane; and receiving an activity signal from the mass storage device, and wherein illuminating the activity indicator comprises illuminating the activity indicator for the mass storage device when either the data received on the first SGPIO interface, the data received on the second SGPIO interface, or the activity signal received directly from the mass storage device indicates that the mass storage device is active.