Patent ID: 8170994

Claim:
A method for performing virtual archiving comprising: applying, using at least one computer processor, archiving rules to a backup catalog; generating a virtual archive catalog associated with one or more portions of the backup catalog based at least in part on a result of applying archiving rules to the backup catalog, wherein the virtual archive catalog comprises at least one virtual archive image; determining whether a backup image associated with the at least one virtual archive image will expire prior to an expiration of the at least one virtual archive image, wherein the at least one virtual archive image references one or more portions of the backup image to allow archiving of the one or more portions of the backup image without copying the one or more portions of the backup image, and wherein the one or more referenced portions of the backup image are subject to a backup retention date and an archive retention date; and generating an archive image based at least in part on the at least one virtual archive image in the event that the backup image will expire prior to the expiration of the at least one virtual archive image, wherein generating the archive image further comprises: determining if the backup image is convertible to the archive image in place; in the event the backup image is convertible to the archive image in place, converting the backup image into the archive image in place; and in the event the backup image is not convertible to the archive image in place, copying items required for archiving to the archive image.