Patent ID: 8510848

Claim:
A system for managing a plurality of files in a communication network, the communication network comprising a plurality of clients and at least one file of the plurality of files comprising one or more data segments, the system comprising: a. a receiver configured to: i. receive metadata associated with a file, wherein the file is stored in a virtual drive of a first client of the plurality of clients; and ii. receive data segments associated with the file from the virtual data drive of the first client; b. a remote storage configured to store the metadata and data segments associated with the file; c. a processor configured to generate a first representation of the file based on the received metadata and data segments associated with the file; and d. a sender configured to: i. send the first representation of the file to the plurality of clients; and ii. send at least one data segment of the file to a second client of the plurality of clients, based on a request from the second client for the at least one data segment of the file.