just a bunch of disks (SAN) (JBOD)
Just a Bunch Of Disks (JBOD) identifies controllerless disk arrays or disk subsystems. A JBOD has no controller and consists simply of an enclosure containing multiple disk drives; usually between 6 and 16.
The disk drives operate independently, each with its own address, and are individually driven by the server via Small ComputerSystem Interface( SCSI), Integrated Drive Electronics( IDE), or Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics( EIDE). The advantage of a JBOD over individual drives is better handling and compact design.
JBOD systems have fast access times and are less expensive than RAID systems, Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID). There are several ways to upgrade JBOD systems with RAID functionality without using a RAID controller. For example, RAID level 0 can be achieved using appropriate software. Higher RAID levels can be achieved by hardware additions.
JBOD systems can be used to build up tertiary storage for archiving with a storage capacity ofexabytes( EB). A more far-reaching approach with a not inconsiderable energy-saving potential is the Massive Array of Idle Disks( MAID).