Patent ID: 7120631

Claim:
A method of accessing data stored in a data storage location in a data storage device, the method comprising: (a) a server receiving from a client a request for accessing data related to a file, and wherein the server is in communication with a data storage device including data storage locations and the server managing locks on files having data stored in the data storage device; (b) in response to the request for data, the server returning to the client metadata of the file including information specifying a data storage location for the file and granting to the client a lock on at least a portion of the file to be used when accessing data that is at least a portion of the file; and (c) using the metadata of the file received from the server, the client producing at least one data access command based on the metadata received from the server for accessing the data storage location and sending the at least one data access command produced from the metadata received from the server to the data storage device for accessing data stored on the data storage device that comprises at least a portion of the file for which the lock is granted.