Patent ID: 7756837

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving at least one data-stream intended for archiving on a backup storage device; extracting management data from the data-stream, the management data including: (i) an identifier of a source of the data-stream; (ii) volume information concerning where the data of the data-stream were stored, including at least one of: a size of each volume of data, space consumed by each volume, and space available in each volume; (iii) metadata of the data of the data-stream, including at least one of: one or more identifiers of one or more groups of users generating the data, one or more identifiers of one or more users having access to the data, file size of the data, folder size of the data, and one or more identifiers of one or more authors generating the data; (iv) information concerning types of data files of the data-stream; and (v) keywords of the data files of the data-stream; and storing the management data in a searchable format in a database, wherein the method is carried out by a device that is transparent to a source producing the data-stream such that it is apparent to the source that the data-stream is being delivered to a backup storage device.