Patent ID: 8209334

Claim:
Segment distribution logic for distributing a segment of data across multiple repositories located on multiple apparatuses in a data storage system and for distributing an index associated with the data storage system across the multiple repositories, the logic comprising: segmentation logic for dividing data into at least one segment according to a segmentation scheme; characteristic generation logic for generating a characteristic based upon the at least one segment, where the characteristic generation logic is operable to repeatedly produce the same characteristic for the same segment, and the characteristic generation logic is further operable to generate a substantially uniform distribution of characteristics for different segments; repository selection logic for generating a repository identifier based upon the characteristic; communication logic for communicating the segment and a segment identifier that refers to the segment to a repository identified by the repository identifier, the repository being located on a remote computer, and output logic for storing on a storage medium the segment and the segment identifier, where the segment identifier comprises the repository identifier and a key based upon the segment of data, where the output logic is operable to generate the key using a hash function, and where the storage medium is configured to store the segment and an index for locating the segment, where the characteristic comprises a cryptographic hash value computed from the segment, a simpler hash value based on the segment, or a length of the segment, and where the repository selection logic is operable to select the repository identifier, based upon the characteristic, from a mapping table.