Patent ID: 8595315

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving, at a server, a first request from a requesting device to store a media file; determining, at the server, whether the requesting device is portable or includes removable memory; in response to determining that the requesting device is portable or includes removable memory, prioritizing the requesting device during processing of the first request, wherein processing the first request includes: determining, at the server, whether the requesting device includes sufficient available memory to store the media file; and determining whether a best fit memory block is available in a particular device of a plurality of devices in response to determining that the requesting device includes insufficient available memory; in response to determining that the requesting device is not portable and does not include removable memory, prioritizing stationary devices that include resident memory during processing of the first request; receiving a second request from a first device of the plurality of devices to be removed from a network of storage devices; determining, based on a media asset table, whether the first device includes a portion of a file that is collectively stored in the network of storage devices; and in response to determining that the first device includes the portion of the file: requesting and receiving the portion of the file from the first device; instructing the first device to delete the portion of the file; removing the first device from a device profile table; and storing the portion of the file to one or more other devices of the network.