Patent ID: 6970349

Claim:
An expandable modular storage unit comprising: a backplane including daisy chain connections for a daisy-chain of storage modules; and a plurality of storage modules coupled to the backplane wherein each storage module comprises a storage module interface board, and wherein the storage module interface board comprises at least two data connectors, wherein each storage module interface board coupled to the backplane is daisy-chained via the at least two data connectors on each storage module interface board and via the daisy-chain connections on the backplane such that a host computer system connected at one end of the daisy-chain is operable to communicate with a storage module of the plurality of storage modules connected to the backplane on another end of the daisy-chain via the at least two data connectors of the storage module interface board in between the ends of the daisy-chain, and wherein the at least two data connectors for each storage module interface board comprises a first connector operable to receive a signal from at least one of the daisy-chain connections on the backplane and a second connector operable to transmit the received signal on at least one of the daisy-chain connections on the backplane, wherein each of the plurality of storage modules include hard disk drives operable to transfer data stored in the hard disk drives to the host computer system via at least one of the daisy chain connections on the backplane and via the at least two data connectors on the respective storage module interface board; and wherein each storage module interface board further comprises a converter operable to convert data received from the at least one other storage module from one standard to another standard, wherein the one standard is IDE-standard and the another standard is IEEE 1394 standard.