Patent ID: 8321386

Claim:
A method, comprising: retrieving a data element of a first size at a client from a storage system separate from the client, the storage system including a storage device and a storage operating system that organizes data including the data element within the storage device; compressing the data element at the client utilizing a compression algorithm that is unsupported by the storage system, the compression algorithm being unsupported by the storage system by virtue of the compression algorithm being implemented on the client and not being implemented by the storage operating system of the storage system; determining a second size of the compressed data element by monitoring an output data rate of the compression algorithm without storing the compressed data element, and by multiplying the output data rate by a factor of time; automatically comparing the first size and the second size; and displaying results of the comparison to gauge a compressibility of the data element if the compression algorithm were to be supported by the storage operating system of the storage system, by displaying an estimated savings resulting from the compression of the data element; wherein the results of the comparison are displayed utilizing the client in communication with the storage system over a network; wherein the retrieving, the compressing, and the comparing occur at the client in communication with the storage system over the network; wherein an operating system of the storage system does not support the compression of the data element, another operating system other than the operating system of the storage system does support the compression of the data element, and the results of the comparison are used to identify storage savings available by upgrading the storage system to the other operating system.