Patent ID: 8447726

Claim:
A system for providing data, comprising: a performance storage unit, wherein the performance storage unit stores data for high performance access and responds efficiently to user requests to store and to retrieve data; a performance segment storage unit, wherein the performance segment storage unit provides capacity-optimized storage by: receiving a data stream or data block from the performance storage unit; breaking the data stream or data block into one or more data segments; determining whether one of the one or more data segments has been previously stored; and in the event that the one of the one or more data segments has not been previously stored, storing the one of the one or more data segments; in the event that the one of the one or more data segments has been previously stored, storing a reference to the one of the one or more data segments so that the one of the one or more data segments is used to reconstruct the data stream or data block and another data stream or data block; and a determiner for: determining whether a requested data is stored in the performance storage unit; and in the event that the requested data is not stored in the performance storage unit, determining whether the requested data is stored in the performance segment storage unit; wherein: a data item is removed from the performance storage unit and stored in the performance segment storage unit based at least in part on a fulfillment of a criteria, and in the event a user requires the data item to be available for high performance access, the data item stored in the performance segment storage unit is transferred back to the performance storage unit; and wherein the criteria include that the performance storage unit is full, that the data item is finished being used, that a time period for storing the data item in the performance storage unit is completed, or that a scheduled transfer from the performance storage unit to the performance segment storage unit is indicated.