A storage system (14) that stores data from a host system (12)
includes
a plurality of disk drives (30), and a controller (32) that controls
the disk drives (30). At least one of the disk drives (30) is in
a stand-by mode and one of the disk drives (30) is in a write/read mode
at approximately the same time. In one embodiment, the controller (32) directs
data to a first subset (500) of disk drives (30) and a second subset
(502) of disk drives (30) simultaneously. In this embodiment, at
least one of the subsets (500)(502) can include five disk drives
(30). Further, during a data transfer, one third of the disk drives (30)
can be in the write/read mode while two-thirds of the disk drives (30) are
in the stand-by mode.
