Patent ID: 7610296

Claim:
One or more computer readable storage media having stored thereon a plurality of instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a computer, causes the one or more processors to: create an entry for a file to be stored in a file system; and assign a priority to the file that indicates an importance of the file relative to a plurality of additional files stored in the file system, the priority being one of four or more priorities available to files in the file system, wherein the assigned priority is determined based on whether the file comprises non-data, user-explicit data, user-implicit data, or system data; wherein the four or more priorities include a first one or more priorities assigned to non-data, a second one or more priorities assigned to user-explicit data, a third one or more priorities assigned to user-implicit data, and a fourth one or more priorities assigned to system data, and wherein the non-data is a higher priority than the user-explicit data, the user-explicit data is a higher priority than the user-implicit data, and the user-implicit data is a higher priority than the system data; wherein non-data comprises information required for a program to be executed by a computer, the user-explicit data comprises data that is generated directly by a user or at the user's request, the user-implicit data comprises customization or preference data that is generated for the user by a computing system of the user, and the system data comprises data that is generated or saved by the computing system, without knowledge of the user, to improve performance or usability of the computing system; and wherein the system data further comprises: (i) a cache file generated to avoid re-generation of particular information, and (ii) a system memory dump file created in response to a system crash to aid in problem identification and/or debugging.