Hitachi, Ltd.

Akihiro Inamura

Tsuyoshi Sasagawa

Kiyoshi Honda

Takahiko Iwasaki

Minoru Shimokawa

Midori Kurokawa

Toru Yoneyama

Junji Ogawa

Yutaka Uematsu

Yasuhiro Ikeda

Xiaoming Jiang

Takuji Ito

Shungo Okabe

Rei Arikawa

To increase the number of selectable chips without adding a signal line to a general purpose memory controller. A semiconductor storage device includes a memory controller, a plurality of memory chips, a selection unit which is connected to the memory controller and is connected with the plurality of memory chips to be able to select any one of the plurality of memory chips, and a switch unit which is connected to the memory controller and the selection unit. The memory controller and the selection unit are connected by a signal line for transmitting a first signal outputted from the memory controller and configured to select the memory chips. The memory controller and the switch unit are connected by a signal line for transmitting a second signal outputted from the memory controller and configured to select the memory chips.

Semiconductor storage device having a memory controller, a selection unit and a switch unit connected to each other

First and second units are mounted on a rear side of a housing of a storage system. Either of the first and second units includes a fan. The rear side of the housing includes an upper-tier portion defining an upper-tier opening, and a lower-tier portion defining a lower-tier opening, and the housing further includes a boundary portion that is a boundary between the upper-tier portion and the lower-tier portion, and a shutter unit. The boundary portion includes a first through hole that is a through hole connecting an upper-tier passage and a lower-tier passage. When the fan is operating, if the first unit is removed from the upper-tier portion, the shutter unit blocks the upper-tier passage, and if the second unit is removed from the lower-tier portion, the shutter unit blocks the lower-tier passage.

Cooling technique for a storage system

A storage unit is provided with a plurality of sub storage units configured to include a plurality of hard disk drives, an enclosure, a printed wiring board, a power supply device, and a cable holder. The sub storage units each operate separately. The enclosure is provided in the array of the hard disk drives so that the distance can be shorter between the enclosure and each of the hard disk drives. With the provision of the cable holder, communications cables can be both brought closer to the printed wiring board. With such a configuration, the coupling point among the communications cables and the printed wiring board, and the enclosure can be favorably reduced. The resulting storage control apparatus can be mounted with a larger number of storage devices, thereby being able to maintain good signal quality.

Storage control apparatus

A storage unit is provided with a plurality of sub storage units configured to include a plurality of hard disk drives, an enclosure, a printed wiring board, a power supply device, and a cable holder. The sub storage units each operate separately. The enclosure is provided in the array of hard disk drives so that the distance can be shorter between the enclosure and each of the hard disk drives. With the provision cable holder, communications cables can be both brought closer to the printed wiring board. With such a configuration, the coupling point among the communications cables and the printed wiring board, and the enclosure can be favorably reduced. The resulting storage control apparatus of the invention can be mounted with a larger number of storage devices, thereby being able to keep the signal quality.

With the storage control device of the present invention, it is possible to mount a larger number of storage devices and to cool them effectively. A plurality of sub-storage units are provided within one storage unit. Each sub-storage unit includes a plurality of hard disk drives, a plurality of enclosures, and a plurality of power supply devices. A cover is divided into a front cover which covers over the front side of a case, and a rear cover which covers over the rear side of the case. Shield portions are provided on the upper sides of the hard disk drives and the enclosures. By these shield portions contacting the adjacent modules (other disk drives and other enclosures), it is possible to reduce the negative influence upon cooling air draft passages within the case, even when a cover has been removed.

Storage control device

The invention verifies the validity of instructions transmitted between controllers without complicating the structure of the electrical connection between controllers. The initial setup detection unit detects whether an initial setup of the lower communications network has been completed. When a fault in the path to the storage unit has been detected by the fault detection unit, the switching request output unit outputs a switching request signal to the switching permission unit. When the preparation status detection unit is aware that the lower communications network has completed initial setup, the preparation status detection unit outputs the preparation complete signal to the switching permission unit. When both the switching request signal and the preparation complete signal are input, the switching permission unit outputs the switching signal to the path switching unit. The path switching unit switches the path in accordance with the signal from the switching permission unit.

Growing community of inventors

Hadano, Japan

Akihiro Inamura