Patent ID: 8495276

Claim:
A power conservation system for a computer system, said power conservation system comprising; a non-volatile cache memory (NVCM) device for storing information, said NVCM device operationally coupled to said computer system, said NVCM device having a threshold storage volume for said information; at least one data storage device coupled to said computer system, each of said at least one data storage device comprising an allocated portion for storing only said information from said NVCM device, said NVCM device and said at least one data storage device being separate devices and wherein said NVCM device is operational when said at least one data storage device is powered down; and a controller coupled to said computer system, said controller for selective application of power to said at least one data storage device for enabling reading said information from or writing said information to said at least one data storage device, wherein said controller determines if said threshold storage volume of said NVCM device is reached, and in response, said controller enables powering up of said at least one data storage device and enables writing of said information to said at least one data storage device and wherein said controller determines if said threshold storage volume of said NVCM device is not reached, and in response, said controller enables powering down of said at least one data storage device and enables writing of said information to said NVCM device, wherein after said writing of said information to said at least one data storage device, said controller powers down said at least one data storage device that received said information, wherein said controller is configured to, subsequent to a powering down of said at least one data storage device that received said information, synchronize said at least one data storage device, wherein said controller enables power to be applied to each data storage device of said at least one data storage device during active synchronization concurrent with restricting power from being applied to those data storage devices of said at least one storage device that are not subjected to said synchronization, and wherein said controller geographically regulates to where and when said information is to be written during at least one of said writing and synchronizing processes, such that a reduction in localized radiated heat generation is achieved, thus enabling a reduction in cooling expense.