Patent ID: 8352429

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for managing portions of files in multi-tier storage systems, at least a portion of the method being performed by a computing device comprising at least one processor, the method comprising: identifying a file that is managed by an application and stored in a multi-tier storage system, wherein the application comprises a database application and a first portion of the file comprises a database extent of the file; determining how the application stores data in the file by analyzing the file to determine how the file is sub-divided and how the database application writes to the file to identify data-management information associated with the application; using the data-management information to identify the first portion of the file; identifying a data-placement policy; implementing the data-placement policy by moving the first portion of the file from a first tier of the multi-tier storage system to a second tier of the multi-tier storage system, wherein moving the first portion of the file comprises translating the database extent to file system blocks offset and length pairs and using the file system blocks offset and length pairs to move file system blocks of the database extent.