1. A storage system having backup storage, comprising: a non-volatile memory having first and second physical communication ports and configured as a primary storage for the storage system and providing a non-volatile storage space for the storage system; a plurality of backup hard drives having first and second physical communication ports and providing a backup storage space for the non-volatile memory; and a first host bus adapter (HBA) having first and second physical communication ports and coupled to the non-volatile memory and a second HBA having first and second physical communication ports and coupled to the backup hard drive, each HBA being configured to receive a WRITE request from a server containing data and an address where the data is to be stored, the first HBA configured to write the data contained in the WRITE request to a physical location within the non-volatile memory and the second HBA configured to write the data contained in the WRITE request to a physical location within one of the plurality of backup hard drives; wherein the first physical communication port of the first HBA is connected to the first physical communication port of the nonvolatile memory via a first communication bus, the second physical communication port of the first HBA is connected to the first physical communication port of the plurality of backup hard drives via a second communication bus, the first physical communication port of the second HBA is connected to the second physical communication port of the nonvolatile memory via a third communication bus, and the second physical communication port of the second HBA is connected to the second physical communication port of the plurality of backup hard drives via a fourth communication bus; wherein the second HBA is configured to write data to the plurality of backup hard drives in a striped manner such that, for a given backup hard drive, data is written to sequential physical locations in said backup hard drive; wherein the first HBA is further configured to receive a READ request from the server containing an address from which data is to be read, access a physical location within the non-volatile memory corresponding to the address contained in the READ request, and provide data stored at the physical location to the external host in the absence of a READ error message from the non-volatile memory, and wherein the second HBA is further configured to receive a READ request from the server containing an address from which data is to be read, access a physical location within one of the plurality of backup hard drives corresponding to the address received in the READ request and provide data stored at that address to the host in the presence of a READ error message from the non-volatile memory.