Patent ID: 8244679

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for using single-instance-storage information to immediately reclaim storage space occupied by archived data elements, at least a portion of the method being performed by a server-side archiving system comprising at least one processor, the method comprising: receiving a request from a client-side computing device to archive a data element on the client-side computing device; determining that a prior instance of the data element was previously archived by the server-side archiving system such that an archived instance of the data element already exists within the server-side archiving system; determining that the archived instance of the data element has been backed up by a server-side backup system that is separate from the server-side archiving system; in response to determining that the archived instance of the data element has been backed up, immediately reclaiming storage space occupied by the data element on the client-side computing device by removing the data element from the client-side computing device without archiving or backing up the data element.