Patent ID: 8112397

Claim:
A computer-accessible storage medium storing program instructions executable to: receive data from a group of backup data sources on one or more client computer systems; write the data from the group of backup data sources to a target storage device, wherein writing the data from the group of backup data sources to the target storage device comprises concurrently backing up each backup data source in the group of backup data sources to the target storage device; calculate a first rate at which the data from the group of backup data sources is written to the target storage device; add a first additional backup data source to the group of backup data sources after calculating the first rate; calculate a second rate at which the data from the group of backup data sources including the first additional backup data source is written to the target storage device; determine whether the second rate is faster than the first rate by at least a threshold amount; if the second rate is faster than the first rate by at least the threshold amount, add a second additional backup data source to the group of backup data sources and continue backing up the group of backup data sources including the first additional backup data source and the second additional backup data source; and if the second rate is not faster than the first rate by at least the threshold amount, continue backing up the group of backup data sources including the first additional backup data source without adding the second additional backup data source to the group of backup data sources.