Patent ID: 8239348

Claim:
A method comprising: automatically archiving data items from a backup image stored in backup storage, wherein the automatically archiving is performed without restoring the data items from the backup image, and the automatically archiving comprises mounting the backup image, wherein the backup image is not archived, generating a mapping of the backup image, wherein the mapping is generated based on the backup image subsequent to the backup image being mounted, extracting at least one data item of the data items from the backup image using the mapping of the backup image, wherein extraction of the at least one data item does not restore the at least one data item, and the mapping indicates a location of the at least one data item within the backup image, migrating the at least one data item to an ingest interface, and archiving the at least one data item into an archive database, wherein the ingest interface is configured to archive the at least one item into the archive database.