Patent ID: 8510573

Claim:
A method of dynamically choosing a time to encrypt a copy of data created from unencrypted data, the method comprising: receiving information related to a first completion time, wherein the first completion time is within a storage window to complete a data storage operation, wherein the data storage operation creates one or more copies of at least a portion of an unencrypted data set, and transmits the one or more copies to at least one storage device; estimating with one or more computer processors comprising computer hardware, a second completion time, wherein the second completion time is based on an estimated amount of time it will take to encrypt at least a portion of the one or more copies; when the second completion time occurs after the first completion time, creating and transferring the one or more copies to the at least one storage device without encrypting the data contained in the one or more copies, and after transfer, encrypting at least a portion of the one or more copies; and when the second completion time occurs before the first completion time, encrypting at least a portion of the data contained in the one or more copies in association with performing the storage operation.