Patent ID: 7836101

Claim:
A method for managing at least one storage device, comprising: identifying the at least one storage device; establishing a database containing information about the identified at least one storage device, wherein the information about the identified at least one storage device includes operating characteristics of the identified at least one storage device; providing to the user a graphical user interface in accordance with the information in the database, the graphical interface displaying at least one menu option for the identified at least one storage device for the user to select at least one of (i) display of the information about the identified at least one storage device and (ii) execution of at least one process to control the operation of the at least one storage device; processing the user-selected menu option, said processing further including: determining if a requested execution of the at least one process complies with configuration rules for the identified at least one storage device, and if not, blocking execution of the at least one process, and generating an error message, the configuration rules determined in accordance with the information in the database; and (e) automatically updating the graphical user interface in response to the processing of the user-selected menu option.