Patent ID: 7203135

Claim:
A storage system, comprising: a plurality of controllers controlling to transfer data to a plurality of storage regions; a plurality of first data lines coupled to said controllers and being used to relay data from said controllers to said storage regions; a first housing comprising a plurality of first disk drives, said first disk drives comprising some of said plurality of storage regions; a plurality of circuits, in said first housing, coupled to said first data lines and a plurality of second data lines, said second data lines coupled to a second housing comprising a plurality of second disk drives, said circuits bypassing said first housing and relaying data between said controllers and said second housing if said first housing has a failure; a plurality of converters, in said first housing, coupled to said circuits by a plurality of third data lines, said converters performing a conversion between a first interface of said controllers and a second interface of at least one of said first disk drives; and a plurality of switches, in said first housing, each coupled to said converters and at least one of said first disk drives and relaying data via a selected converter of said converters, wherein said first interface is used to transfer data via said first data lines, said second data lines and/or said third data lines, and wherein said second interface is located in said first disk drives.