Maintenance free storage container storage module access

1. A maintenance-free storage container that allows for multiple storage modules of a plurality of storage modules to be in a failure mode without replacement, the maintenance-free storage container comprises:

a container control module operable to:

determine failure mode information for the plurality of storage modules;

manage storage mapping information of data content within the plurality of storage modules based on the failure mode information;

receive a data access request;

interpret the data access request based on the storage mapping information to identify one or more of the plurality of storage modules to produce one or more identified storage modules;

generate an in-container data access request based on the data access request and the one or more identified storage modules; and

the plurality of storage modules includes a sufficient number of storage modules to provide at least one peta-byte of storage, wherein a storage module of the plurality of storage modules includes:

a transceiver to receive at least a portion of the in-container data access request from the container interface module;

a control module to generate a control signal from the at least a portion of the in-container data access request;

one or more storage mediums for storing data; and

a storage medium interface to access a portion of the data from the one or more storage mediums based on the control signal.

2. The maintenance-free storage container of claim 1 further comprises:

the data access request is regarding one or more encoded data slices, wherein digital information is segmented into digital information segments and wherein a digital information segment of the digital information segments is encoded using a dispersed storage error coding function to produce a set of encoded data slices; and

the data includes a plurality of encoded data slices, which includes at least one encoded data slice of the set of encoded data slices.

3. The maintenance-free storage container of claim 2 , wherein the container control module is further operable to:

determine that the data access request is regarding writing encoded data slices that have related slices names;

identify one of the plurality of storage modules for storing the encoded data slices;

generate related location information for the encoded data slices within the identified one of the plurality of storage modules;

update the storage mapping information based on the related location information; and

generate the in-container data access request based on the related location information.

4. The maintenance-free storage container of claim 1 , wherein the container control module is further operable to:

manage the storage mapping information of encoded data slices having common pillar references within their respective slices names within the plurality of storage modules based on the failure mode information, wherein digital information is segmented into digital information segments and wherein a digital information segment of the digital information segments is encoded using a dispersed storage error coding function to produce a set of encoded data slices, wherein an encoded data slices of the set of encoded data slices has a slice name with a particular pillar reference.

5. The maintenance-free storage container of claim 1 , wherein the container control module is further operable to:

manage the storage mapping information of a plurality of sets of encoded data slices, wherein the plurality of storage modules are grouped into a set of pillar storage units, wherein encoded data slices of the plurality of sets of encoded data slices having a common pillar reference within their respective slices names are mapped to one of the set of pillar storage units having the common pillar reference, wherein digital information is segmented into digital information segments and wherein a digital information segment of the digital information segments is encoded using a dispersed storage error coding function to produce a set of encoded data slices, wherein an encoded data slices of the set of encoded data slices has a slice name with the common pillar reference.

6. The maintenance-free storage container of claim 1 , wherein the storage medium interface comprises:

a servo unit; and

a head unit, wherein the servo unit converts the control signal into a head unit control signal and wherein, in accordance with the head unit control signal, the head unit is positioned relative to a storage medium of the one or more storage mediums to access the data.

7. The maintenance-free storage container of claim 6 , wherein the control signal comprises one or more of:

a storage medium identifier when the one or more storage mediums includes a plurality of storage mediums;

position information; and

a sector number.

8. The maintenance-free storage container of claim 1 , wherein the container control module comprises:

a dispersed storage network (DSN) interface operable to receive the data access request from a source external to the maintenance-free storage container;

a slice location memory operable to store the storage mapping information;

a processing module operable to:

determine the failure mode information;

manage the storage mapping information;

interpret the data access request based on the storage mapping information to identify the one or more identified storage modules; and

generate the in-container data access request based on the data access request and the one or more identified storage modules; and

a transceiver operable to transmit the in-container data access request to the one or more identified storage modules.

9. A method comprises:

determining failure mode information for a plurality of storage modules of a maintenance-free storage container that allows for multiple storage modules of the plurality of storage modules to be in a failure mode without replacement;

managing storage mapping information of data content within the plurality of storage modules based on the failure mode information;

receiving a data access request;

interpreting the data access request based on the storage mapping information to identify one or more of the plurality of storage modules to produce one or more identified storage modules;

generating an in-container data access request based on the data access request and the one or more identified storage modules; and

sending the in-container data access request to the one or more identified storage modules.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprises:

receiving, by one of the one or more identified storage modules, at least a portion of the in-container data access request from the container interface module;

generating, by the one of the one or more identified storage modules, a control signal from the at least a portion of the in-container data access request; and

accessing, by the one of the one or more identified storage modules, a portion of data from one or more storage mediums of the by the one of the one or more identified storage modules, based on the control signal.

11. The method of claim 9 further comprises:

receiving the data access request regarding one or more encoded data slices, wherein digital information is segmented into digital information segments, wherein a digital information segment of the digital information segments is encoded using a dispersed storage error coding function to produce a set of encoded data slices, and wherein the data includes a plurality of encoded data slices, which includes at least one encoded data slice of the set of encoded data slices.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprises:

determining that the data access request is regarding writing encoded data slices that have related slices names;

identifying one of the plurality of storage modules for storing the encoded data slices;

generating related location information for the encoded data slices within the identified one of the plurality of storage modules;

updating the storage mapping information based on the related location information; and

generating the in-container data access request based on the related location information.

13. The method of claim 9 further comprises:

managing the storage mapping information of encoded data slices having common pillar references within their respective slices names within the plurality of storage modules based on the failure mode information, wherein digital information is segmented into digital information segments and wherein a digital information segment of the digital information segments is encoded using a dispersed storage error coding function to produce a set of encoded data slices, wherein an encoded data slices of the set of encoded data slices has a slice name with a particular pillar reference.

14. The method of claim 9 further comprises:

managing the storage mapping information of a plurality of sets of encoded data slices, wherein the plurality of storage modules are grouped into a set of pillar storage units, wherein encoded data slices of the plurality of sets of encoded data slices having a common pillar reference within their respective slices names are mapped to one of the set of pillar storage units having the common pillar reference, wherein digital information is segmented into digital information segments and wherein a digital information segment of the digital information segments is encoded using a dispersed storage error coding function to produce a set of encoded data slices, wherein an encoded data slices of the set of encoded data slices has a slice name with the common pillar reference.

15. The method of claim 9 , wherein the control signal comprises one or more of:

a storage medium identifier when the one or more storage mediums includes a plurality of storage mediums;

position information; and

a sector number.