Patent ID: 6880041

Claim:
A data storage and retrieval system, comprising: one or more hard disks individually disposed in one or more portable hard disk drive units; a rail extending from one end of said data storage and retrieval system to the opposite end of said data storage and retrieval system; one or more moveable accessors, wherein each of those one or more moveable accessors comprises a carriage section capable of moving bidirectionally along said rail along a first axis, an X/Y movement control card comprising a memory device disposed on said carriage assembly, a lifting servo section capable of moving bidirectionally along a second axis, wherein said first axis is perpendicular to said second axis, a gripper mechanism disposed on said lifting servo section, and an accessor control card disposed on said lifting servo section; one or more first servers, wherein each of said one or more first servers comprises a first operating system and a storage management program; a first information transfer station comprising a plurality of information transfer slots, wherein one or more of said one or more portable hard disk drive units can be releaseably coupled to said first information transfer station; a first communication link interconnecting said one or more first servers and said first information transfer station; one or more second servers, wherein each of said one or more second servers comprises a second operating system, and wherein said one or more second servers do not comprise a storage management program; a second information transfer station comprising a plurality of information transfer slots, wherein one or more of said one or more portable hard disk drive units can be releaseably coupled to said second information transfer station; and a second communication link interconnecting said one or more second servers and said second information transfer station.