Patent ID: 8510505

Claim:
A method comprising: providing a first interface between a computer and a removable storage device that is external to the computer, wherein the first interface enables first data access between the computer and the removable storage device; receiving data from the computer using the first interface, wherein the data is to be stored at the removable storage device; caching the data on the removable storage device; executing a virtual storage agent in response to the computer generating an access attempt to read another data, wherein the virtual storage agent is stored on the removable storage device, the access attempt is configured to read the another data from the removable storage device, and executing the virtual storage agent comprises the computer executing the virtual storage agent in response to the another data not being stored on the removable storage device; establishing a second interface with at least one remote storage location using the virtual storage agent, wherein the at least one remote storage location is external to both the computer and the removable storage device, and the executing the virtual storage agent comprises using the computer to communicate, via the second interface, with the at least one remote storage location; and storing the data at the at least one remote storage location using the second interface.