A rack mount drive blade system having a chassis and a drive blade. The chassis has at least one blade bay to accept a drive blade, where the chassis accepts the drive blade into the blade bay with the drive blade in a horizontal orientation. Each blade bay has 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 also has slot portions for engaging the drive blade along a length of the drive blade. The chassis has at least one module bay to accept a shared resource module, where each module bay has chassis to module electrical contacts, for making electrical connections between the chassis and the shared resource module. The drive blade has a printed circuit board for providing electrical connections to and from components on the drive blade. The drive blade has at least one hard drive, and drive blade electrical contacts for making electrical connections to the chassis through the at least one cable. The drive blade has rail portions disposed along the length of the drive blade, the rail portions for engaging the slot portions of the bay. The drive blade can be at least partially removed from the chassis without breaking the electrical connections between the chassis and the drive blade.