1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to data networks providing access to data storage in general and, in particular, to optimization of power consumption by network nodes operating as data storage.
2. Description of the Related Art
Media, such as audio recordings and films, can nowadays be effectively archived in digital format, and it is used by private persons and by large organizations. In the case of large organizations the number of records (i.e., individual audio or video recordings) can be very large. Additionally, the size of digitized media files, especially video files converted to high quality digital format, is large, and in consequence archives of media files require large memory space. The digitized media can be stored on various media, e.g., CD-ROM, DVD, Blue Ray, HD DVD, hard disks, magnetic tapes, and others.
For large organizations using hard disks for storing media data is very useful as it does not require any manual or mechanical operations to be performed in order to access the files stored on that drive, and as a result it can be accessed from a remote location (e.g., a branch of this organization) via a network (e.g., intranet or Internet).
The problem faced by some organizations is that the number of media files is growing very fast, and the old files cannot be simply deleted because, for example, they are classified as part of national heritage and as such must be archived indefinitely. This results in a constantly expanding archive. The problem of available memory space can be solved by connecting additional hard disk drives to the existing ones.
While the solution with a plurality of hard disk drives may provide adequate space for storing the media files, it also requires a substantial amount of electricity to run. Power consumption of a storage system comprised of 10,000 hard disks, each consuming 25 W is 250 kW. By reducing power consumption of such a system, significant financial benefits can be gained, and additionally its impact on the environment will be reduced.