Patent ID: 8171247

Claim:
A method for backing up computer data, the method comprising: determining an available capacity of each storage device, wherein the available capacity is one of a plurality of backup parameters associated with each storage device, each backup parameter including a parameter value; assigning an available capacity weighting factor to each storage device based on its determined available capacity, wherein the available capacity weighting factor is higher for storages devices with a greater used capacity than for storage devices with a less used capacity; assigning a weighting factor to each of the others of the plurality of backup parameters associated with each storage device; for each storage device, multiplying the weighting factor by the backup parameter value for each backup parameter to determine a plurality of resulting values for each storage device; summing the resulting values for each storage device to determine a score for each storage device; and select the storage device with the largest score to receive data to be backed up from a network computer; wherein at least another one of the backup parameters is selected from the group consisting of: whether the storage device is a network data management protocol (NDMP) device; a speed of the storage device; a network bandwidth required for a backup; a current network bandwidth pattern; a distance between a network computer being backed up and the storage device; a location of the storage device; a time and day; and whether the storage device was used to perform a previous backup.