Patent ID: 7818612

Claim:
An apparatus for maintaining a storage device, the apparatus comprising: a first interconnection module comprising very large scale integration circuits, the first communication module in communication with a storage device and an adapter module and configured as non-blocking switch; a memory module comprising very large scale integration circuits and storing executable code; a processor module comprising very large scale integration circuits and executing the executable code, the executable code comprising a management module in communication with the first interconnection module and performing a maintenance operation on a first storage device through the first interconnection module in response to a command communicated from the adapter module through the first interconnection module, the maintenance operation comprising a surface initialization operation that writes a pattern of binary zeros to each storage device, the first interconnection module, the management module, and the first storage device contained by a first enclosure; the first interconnection module in communication with a second interconnection module of a second enclosure, the second interconnection module comprising very large scale integration circuits; and the management module further performing the maintenance operation on a second storage device of the second enclosure through the second interconnection module.