Patent ID: 8230195

Claim:
A method which, when executed on a computer, stores data in a tiered storage system, the method comprising: accessing a storage policy associated with a tiered data storage system, wherein the storage policy defines a timing storage policy for copying source data from a data source to at least two storage media destinations in the tiered data storage system; dividing the source data into a plurality of portions, and assigning a plurality of headers to the plurality of portions by one or more media management components, wherein one or more of the headers comprises time information, the time information based on the timing storage policy, wherein the one or more media management components access and read the time information to determine a time to perform one or more storage operations; copying with the one or more media management components the plurality of portions, according to the time information in said headers, to a first storage media destination to produce the first auxiliary copy of the source data at a first storage media destination; and copying with the one or more media management components the plurality of portions according to said headers from the first auxiliary copy to the second storage media destination to produce a second auxiliary copy of the source data at a second storage media destination.