A method of affecting power used by an electronic device is provided for an electronic device having storage media and running at least one application. Each application interfaces with the storage media through an input/output (I/O) path executing I/O activities that access the storage media in accordance with configurable parameters of the I/O path. A run-time I/O pattern defined by the I/O activities is determined during a run-time period of the electronic device. At least one of the I/O path's configurable parameters is then modified based on the run-time I/O pattern. The method is readily adapted for power conservation by providing selections for the configurable parameters with each of the selections optimizing power usage for a hypothetical I/O pattern. Then, one or more configurable parameters are modified in accordance with one of the selections for which the hypothetical I/O pattern associated therewith is closest to the run-time I/O pattern.