Patent ID: 7797313

Claim:
A method comprising: responsive to receiving a list of items, generating first ranking criteria for the list of items; performing, using a processor, a first ranking operation with respect to a first item of the list of items, wherein the first ranking operation is performed using at least first storage information associated with the first item of the list of items, the first ranking operation is performed based on the first ranking criteria, the first ranking operation is performed using at least a storage parameter, and a backup parameter, the storage parameter comprises a storage value, the storage value comprises information regarding a storage destination device used to store the at least one item of the list of items, the backup parameter comprises a backup policy for the first item of the list of items, and a backup value for the first item of the list of items, the backup policy comprises information regarding a scheduled backup for the at least one item of the list of items, the backup parameter further comprises a parameter, item data comprises content of the at least one item of the list of items, an amount modified associated with the item data represents that portion of the item data that is modified between a first backup of the at least one item of the list of items and a second backup of the at least one item of the list of items, the parameter represents the amount modified, and the first ranking criteria further comprise a user privilege of a user who has accessed the at least one item of the list of items; and performing, using said processor, a second ranking operation with respect to a second item of the list items, wherein the second ranking operation comprises responsive to the second item having second storage information comprising parameters absent from the first storage information, generating second ranking criteria, wherein the second ranking criteria are based in part upon the parameters absent from the first storage information.