Patent ID: 8621174

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for managing a storage medium of a data processing system, the method comprising: receiving a selection of particular metadata attributes, wherein the selected metadata attributes are shared between files stored in the storage medium; based on the selected metadata attributes, generating an attribute space that is comprised of a plurality of dimensions, wherein each dimension of the attribute space corresponds to a different one of the selected metadata attributes; for each of the files, plotting the file within the attribute space based on metadata associated with the file, wherein the metadata at least includes values for each one of the different metadata attributes that correspond to the dimensions of the attribute space; identifying, based on the manner in which the files are plotted within the attribute space, at least a first group of the files and a second group of the files; relocating files of the first group to a first contiguous region of the storage medium; and relocating files of the second group to a second contiguous region of the storage medium that is distinctive from the first contiguous region, such that seek time of the storage medium for accessing at least one of the first group and second group is reduced.