Patent ID: 7440925

Claim:
In a system having a storage system that is owned by an owner and rented to a user, a method for renting and charging for the use of the storage system comprising the steps of: providing the user with an initial volume of storage space of the storage system, the storage system being held at a site of the user and not at a site of the owner, wherein the storage system held at the user's site has a management table which stores information regarding a state of use of disk drives, and wherein the owner obtains information of the management table from the user's site; charging the user for use of the initial volume at a predetermined rate; providing an additional volume of storage space of the storage system as needed by the user; and charging the user for a portion of the additional volume that is actually used by the user at a first rate and charging the user for a remainder of the additional volume that is not actually used by the user at a second rate different from the first rate, wherein the owner of the storage system is notified when the user begins using a portion of the additional volume.