Patent ID: 6839721

Claim:
A method for protecting, tracking, and retrieving data on a computer system, said method comprising the steps of: (a) connecting a database to an existing operating system and to existing file management software on said computer system, wherein said existing file management software is native to the existing operating system; (b) selecting at least one file to be protected from a primary storage device in said computer system; (c) copying said at least one file from said primary storage device to a secondary storage device in said computer system by activating said existing file management software to perform said copying, wherein said secondary storage device contains at least one removable storage medium, wherein said at least one removable storage medium is assigned a unique identifier, comprising the steps of: (c1) creating a globally unique identifier (GUID), wherein said GUID comprises 128 binary bits created from a current time and date from said computer system and a unique machine identifier copied from an electronic circuit of said computer system, (c2) converting said GUID into a character string, and (c3) assigning said character string as said unique identifier; (d) creating at least one database record when copying said at least one file from said primary storage device to said secondary storage device, wherein said at least one database record contains tracking information about said at least one file and about said copying; (e) storing said at least one database record in said database; and (f) displaying said at least one database record, through a user interface for said existing file management software on a screen display in a graphic display device of said computer system, wherein said at least one database record is displayed graphically as a virtual file representing said at least one file.