A method and apparatus for replacing a polishing pad conditioning disk is a chemical mechanical polishing system is provided. The apparatus comprises a disk load/unload station for unloading used conditioning disks from a pad conditioning assembly and loading unused conditioning disks onto the pad conditioning assembly, on or more disk storage stations for storing both used and unused conditioning disks, and a central robot having a range of motion sufficient for transferring both used an unused conditioning disks between the disk load/unload station and the one or more disk storage stations. Embodiments described herein reduce the length of system interruption by eliminating the need to safety lock out the system for the replacement of polishing pad conditioning disks.