Patent ID: 7660807

Claim:
A method for managing electronic data in a data storage network, the method comprising: monitoring with a journaling module executing in one or more processors that monitors a plurality of data interactions with one or more data objects processed by a file system manager, wherein the journaling module is a first application that monitors the data interactions in the file system manager made by at least one or more second applications, and wherein the journaling module generates a list of the data interactions; receiving via a user interface, a classification criteria that identifies select data interactions associated with at least one user; processing the data interactions to identify the select data interactions made by the user that satisfy the classification criteria; and storing in a metabase information about the select data interactions separately from the file system, the metabase storing at least the properties of the one or more data objects and the identity of the user making the select data interactions; and tracking the data interactions by the user by accessing the metabase to obtain information about the data interactions performed by the user without accessing the file system associated with the one or more data objects.