The venerable hard drive that forms the heart of most of today's computers, and the backbone of any reliable data storage system, consumes far more energy than alternatives like flash memory systems.

Complicating the problem, most large-scale data storage is carried out using RAID—a technology that stores data across several hard drives, so that if one drive fails, data is still backed up on the others. The downside of this is that instead of powering a single hard drive, multiple drives must now constantly be powered.

Fortunately, data storage company Adaptec has made significant strides toward reducing this energy drain through the use of smarter power management techniques. By giving users three modes to chose from, Adaptec's new Intelligent Power Management, which is now being shown at the Supercomputing '08 conference can reduce power consumption for always-on systems like file servers, email archive machines, and backup devices by a staggering 70%. Plus, with he reduced energy consumption comes reduced heat, meaning less energy spent powering fans to keep large disk arrays cool.