Patent ID: 8453153

Claim:
A method comprising: determining, by one or more processors associated with one or more server devices, loads for a plurality of files, where the load of a file represents a measure of processing resources required for processing the file; sorting, by one or more processors associated with the one or more server devices, the plurality of files, based on the determined loads, to create a sorted order; determining, by one or more processors associated with the one or more server devices, a first load for the plurality of files based on the determined loads for the plurality of files; assigning, by one or more processors associated with the one or more server devices and based on the sorted order, approximately a same number of the plurality of files to a plurality of computing devices, the assigning occurring until assignment of one file, of the plurality of files, causes a load of one computing device, of the plurality of computing devices, to equal or exceed the determined first load, the assigning including: assigning a partial load of a particular file, of the plurality of files, to the one computing device when the assignment of the one file causes the load of the one computing device to equal or exceed the determined first load, and assigning a remainder load of the particular file to another computing device of the plurality of computing devices; and storing the assigned files in the plurality of computing devices based on the assigning.