Patent ID: 8086694

Claim:
A method for collecting data stored by a user in a network storage area residing on a network, the method comprising: identifying, via a computing device processor, a path of the network storage as being associated with the user based on the path including an indicator associated with the user, wherein the path is identified by crawling the network and scanning at least one server residing on the network; generating, via a computing device processor, and storing, in computing device memory, a directory that stores a plurality of paths and indicators in association with respective users; transmitting, via a computing device processor, the identified path and indicator from the scanned server to the directory; accessing, via a computing device processor, the network storage area located at the identified path via the network; copying, via a computing device processor, the data stored on the network storage area; and transmitting, via a computing device processor, the data from the network storage area to a collection server.