Patent ID: 8090767

Claim:
A method performed by a partner of a pair of paring partners to establish a paired relationship between the partners, comprising: detecting the presence of a pairing partner device as a consequence of said pairing partner device being locally connected to said partner through a local connection, said local connection bounded by only one transmission end and only one reception end for communications headed in a particular direction; prior to establishing a paired relationship with said pairing partner device, prompting a user to verify himself/herself; pairing with said pairing partner device in response to said user properly verifying himself/herself, said pairing including said pairing partners authenticating each other by passing a unique pass code between said pairing partners over said local connection, said unique pass code agreed to between said pairing partners before said detecting; invoking a remote storage protocol between said pairing partners to establish on a first of the pairing partners access to non volatile storage resources through said local connection for general use, said non volatile storage resources located on a second of the pairing partners, said remote storage protocol designed to provide access to remote storage over a network having multiple nodal hops.