Patent ID: 7934251

Claim:
A method of remotely accessing data from a remote storage device, said method comprising: initiating a first firewall compliant connection between a first computer located behind a first firewall in a first location and a public server; initiating a second firewall compliant connection from said public server to a second computer located behind a second firewall in a second location; requesting data at a user module executing on the first computer via the first firewall compliant connection from a remote storage device associated with said second computer in said second location; searching local cache of the user module to determine whether the requested data is available and valid; when the requested data is available and valid, displaying a file structure, on a display of said first computer, of data stored on said remote storage device based upon information received from the user module, the user module configured to emulate a file server executing on a remote computer; when the requested data is not available and valid, sending a request to said second computer for establishing an active subscription, establishing said active subscription, and displaying a file structure, on a display of said first computer, of data stored on said remote storage device based upon information received from the user module, the user module configured to emulate a file server executing on a remote computer; and enabling interaction with the file structure by receiving at the user module communications formatted for the emulated file server from an operating system of the first computer and responding to the communications with file structure information, the interaction with the file structure at the first computer being the same as an interaction that a user of the second computer would have with the file structure locally on a display of said second computer.