Patent ID: 8577844

Claim:
A method for managing the storage of electronic data, the method comprising: storing a first copy of files at a first storage location associated with a network storage device (“NAS device”), wherein the NAS device has an internal operating system and an internal file management system, and wherein the NAS device communicates with other devices via a network; tracking the first copy of the files stored in the NAS device with a data migrator that is external to the NAS device, wherein the data migrator executes on one or more computer processors that are externally located from the NAS device, wherein the data migrator also has a different file management system than the NAS device and maintains index data in a location external to the NAS device that comprises information about the first storage location associated with the NAS device; processing at least one storage policy with the data migrator to determine when to copy the first copy of the files on the NAS device to one or more secondary storage devices; using the index data to identify that the first copy of the files is stored in the first storage location associated with the NAS device; and migrating, with the data migrator, the first copy of the files stored in the first storage location associated with the NAS device to a second storage location in one or more secondary storage devices externally located from the NAS device.