Patent ID: 7715182

Claim:
A rack mount drive blade system, comprising: a chassis having, at least one blade bay to accept a drive blade, where the chassis accepts the drive blade substantially into the blade bay through a front of the chassis with the drive blade in a horizontal orientation, each blade bay having chassis to blade electrical contacts including at least one cable having a length, for making electrical connections between the chassis and the drive blade, each blade bay having slot portions for engaging the drive blade along a length of the drive blade, and at least one module bay to accept a shared resource module through a back of the chassis and substantially within the chassis, each module bay having chassis to module electrical contacts, for making electrical connections between the chassis and the shared resource module, wherein the chassis to module electrical contacts comprise a mid-plane connector, and the drive blade having, a printed circuit board for providing electrical connections to and from components on the drive blade, at least one hard drive, drive blade electrical contacts for making electrical connections to the chassis through the at least one cable, and rail portions disposed along the length of the drive blade, the rail portions for engaging the slot portions of the bay, wherein the drive blade can be at least partially removed from the chassis without breaking the electrical connections between the chassis and the drive blade.