Patent ID: 7296117

Claim:
A storage system, comprising: a system controller within a controller housing, the system controller being configured for implementing a desired system level storage configuration; a plurality of high density storage systems disposed within the system controller housing, each of the plurality of high density storage systems further comprising: a housing configured for installation in a system controller housing, the housing further having a single connector configured for connecting to the system controller housing; a plurality of storage devices, each of the plurality of storage devices arranged linearly within the housing from a front of the housing to a back of the housing to provide a high density storage system form factor having a width substantially corresponding to a dimension of one of the plurality of storage devices; and a storage access device for aggregating storage capacity of the plurality of storage devices as a single storage device address to the system controller via the single connector and for providing access to each of the plurality of storage devices within the housing via the single connector; and a package aggregator, coupled to the plurality of high density storage systems, for aggregating storage capacity of the plurality of the plurality of high density storage systems disposed within the system controller housing and for providing power, control and signaling to each of the plurality of high density storage systems via the single connector of each of the plurality of high density storage systems.