Patent ID: 7937365

Claim:
A method for managing data associated with a data storage device, wherein the data storage device is coupled to multiple computers over a network, the method comprising: storing application data received from multiple computers over the network in the data storage device, the application data comprising data in multiple formats, wherein each format corresponds to a different software format; storing, in an index, content information and metadata information that describes the application data stored in the data storage device, wherein the content information includes keywords that are present in the application data and the metadata information includes the location of the application data; migrating at least some of the application data from the data storage device to an offsite location, wherein the migrated application data is not available over the network when at the offsite location; updating the metadata information in the index to reflect the migration of the at least some of the application data from the data storage device to the offsite location, wherein the updated metadata information indicates the offsite location of the migrated application data and the time that the migrated application data was last available; receiving a query from a user comprising at least one search parameter; searching the index for application data that matches the at least one received search parameter, wherein the searching accesses the content information and metadata information in order to identify matching application data at the offsite location; and, retrieving the identified matching application data from the offsite location.