Patent ID: 8300823

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for writing a data stream to a storage device serviced by a computer, comprising: receiving at a memory of the computer the data stream and partitioning the data stream into a plurality of data chunks; compressing one or more of the plurality of data chunks; encrypting one or more of the plurality of data chunks; creating, by a security subsystem, metadata for each data chunk of the plurality of data chunks, wherein the metadata identifies whether the data chunk is compressed or uncompressed, whether the data chunk is encrypted or unencrypted, a type of compression used if the data chunk is compressed, a type of file information associated with the data chunk, and a cryptographic signature to determine whether the data chunk is authentic; storing each of the plurality of data chunks with the metadata on the storage device using a data layout format; and determining a starting location of a first data chunk stored on the storage device by examining first metadata stored with the first data chunk on the storage device.