Patent ID: 8046597

Claim:
A system for storing information, the system comprising: plural storage devices, each storage device configured to store information; a storage manager interfaced with the plural storage devices, the storage manager configured to manage the storage of information on the storage devices; a consolidation engine associated with the storage manager, the consolidation engine configured to consolidate unused storage capacity of the plural storage devices into a first set of one or more of the storage devices by moving all of the information stored on the first set of one or more of the storage devices to one or more of the storage devices not included in the first set, the consolidation engine further configured to maintain at least a predetermined buffer of unused storage capacity at one or more of the storage devices not included in the first set; a power manager associated with the storage manager, the power manager configured to shut down the first set of one or more storage devices having the unused storage capacity, the power manager further configured to restart a shut down storage device having unused capacity to maintain at least the predetermined buffer of unused storage capacity if less than the predetermined buffer exists at the one or more of the storage devices not included in the first set; and a performance manager interfaced with the consolidation engine, the performance manager configured to manage consolidation of stored information to accomplish a parameter for information retrieval time of stored information.