Patent ID: 7730231

Claim:
A data transfer interface for connecting a plurality of data storage drives and a controller, comprising: a plurality of data lines jointly connected in parallel to the plurality of data storage drives and the controller; a plurality of control lines jointly connected in parallel to the plurality of data storage drives and the controller; a plurality of read/write command lines connecting, the controller with the plurality of data storage drives, where each of the plurality of data storage drives is connected with the controller by a separate read/write command line of the plurality of read/write command lines, where at least a first read/write command line of the plurality of read/write command lines connects to a first data storage drive of the plurality of the data storage drives and connects to the controller; further where a second read/write command line of the plurality of read/write command lines connects to a second data storage drive of the plurality of the data storage drives and connects to the controller; where the controller initializes two of the plurality of data storage drives by sequentially selecting two of the plurality of data storage drives and identifying assigned data storage areas for each of the selected data storage drives; where read or write command is transferred over the first read/write command line with the assigned data storage area for the first data storage drive and a write or read command, respectively, is transferred over the second read/write Command line with the assigned data storage area for the second data storage drive; and a switch that isolates the data lines from the controller during a direct data transfer between the first data storage drive and the second data storage drive by disconnecting the plurality of data lines from the controller.