Patent ID: 8285685

Claim:
A method for managing electronic data in one or more storage devices, the method comprising: obtaining metadata from a plurality of data objects associated with one or more data interactions, wherein the data objects are stored in a file system on at least a first storage device wherein the metadata comprises aging information that identifies when data objects are to be migrated; storing the metadata in a first metabase wherein the first metabase is stored separately from the file system; migrating a plurality of the data objects from the first storage device to a second storage device based on a first policy, wherein the first policy determines which data objects to migrate based on aging information in the metadata and further migrating at least portion of the associated metadata in the first metabase to a second metabase, wherein the second metabase is associated with the second storage device and wherein the second metabase is stored separately from the first metabase and separately from the file system; removing from the first storage device the plurality of data objects migrated to the secondary storage device; deleting from the first metabase, metadata about the plurality of data objects migrated to the secondary storage device based on a second storage policy that identifies when to delete the metadata from the first metabase, based on diminished storage capacity associated with the first metabase; and obtaining metadata about the plurality of data objects migrated to the secondary device from the second metabase without accessing the first metabase, or the data objects on the secondary storage device via the file system.