Patent ID: 7752358

Claim:
A storage apparatus, the storage apparatus comprising: a plurality of first disk units, each first disk unit having a first physical size and being removable; a plurality of second disk units, each second disk unit having a second physical size that is smaller than the first physical size; a plurality of Fibre Channel (FC) ports each associated with a respective port address of an FC interface; a plurality of Serial Attached Small Computer System Interface (SAS) ports each associated with a respective port address of an SAS interface, each of a first, second, third, and fourth FC ports of the plurality of FC ports being connected to a respective set of second disk units of the plurality of second disk units through a respective set of SAS ports of the plurality of SAS ports; a controller that is connected to the plurality of FC ports and controls data read/write from/to the first disk units, the controller forming a plurality of Error Correcting Code (ECC) groups, each ECC group being formed with either one or more first disk units of the plurality of first disk units or one or more second disk units of the plurality of second disk units, a first ECC group of the plurality of ECC groups being formed with a first second disk unit of the respective set of second disk units connected to the first FC port, a second second disk unit of the respective set of second disk units connected to the second FC port, a third second disk unit of the respective set of second disk units connected to the third FC port, and a fourth second disk unit of the respective set of second disk units connected to the fourth FC port; a plurality of external connectors, each provided in corresponding positions where a respective set of the first disk units of the plurality of first disk units are installed, and physically and electrically connected with the respective set of first disk units installed in a specific state; and a removable conversion unit provided in one or more external connectors of the plurality of external connectors, and used for installing, in a first corresponding position where one or more first disk units of the plurality of first disk units are installed, a larger number of second disk units of the plurality of second disk units.