Systems and methods for performing storage operations using network attached storage
View Patent ↗Systems and methods for performing hierarchical storage operations on electronic data in a computer network are provided. In one embodiment, the present invention may store electronic data from a network device to a network attached storage (NAS) device pursuant to certain storage criteria. The data stored on the NAS may be migrated to a secondary storage and a stub file having a pointer pointing to the secondary storage may be put at the location the data was previously stored on the NAS. The stub file may redirect the network device to the secondary storage if a read request for the data is received from the network device.
1. A method for accessing electronic data, the method comprising:
storing electronic data that satisfies a first storage criteria to a first file location in a first storage device, the first storage device comprising a network attached storage device (NAS);
copying, according to a second storage criteria, the electronic data from the first file location to a second file location in a second storage device;
replacing the electronic data stored in the first location with a stub file;
retrieving, in response to a request to access the electronic data stored in the first file location, the electronic data stored in the second file location according to information contained in the stub file, wherein said retrieving comprises directly accessing the electronic data stored in the second file location without transferring the electronic data to the NAS;
modifying the electronic data and storing the modified electronic data in the second file location without transferring the electronic data or the modified electronic data to the first file location; and
updating the stub file in the first file location to reflect modifications made to the electronic data in the second file location without transferring the electronic data or the modified electronic data to the first file location.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the copying further comprises compressing or otherwise encoding the electronic data.
3. The method of claim 2 further comprising decompressing or otherwise decoding the retrieved data from the second file location.
4. The method of claim 3 wherein the decompressing results in the retrieved data returning to substantially the same format the electronic data was in prior to storage in the second storage device.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein the stub file includes a Windows file shortcut or a UNIX softlink.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the stub file includes a pointer to the second location.
7. A method for accessing and editing electronic data stored on a network attached storage device, the method comprising:
storing electronic data that satisfies a first storage criteria to a first file location in a first storage device, the first storage device comprising a network attached storage device;
copying, according to a second storage criteria, the electronic data from the first file location to a second file location in a second storage device;
replacing the electronic data stored in the first file location with a stub file;
retrieving, in response to a request to access the electronic data stored in the first file location, the electronic data stored in the second file location according to information contained in the stub file; and
editing the retrieved electronic data without transferring the electronic data to the first file location.
8. The method of claim 7 further comprising storing the edited electronic data in the first file location.
9. The method of claim 8 wherein the stub file is updated to reflect edits made to the electronic data in the second file location without transferring the electronic data to the first file location.
10. The method of claim 8 further comprising copying the edited data from the first file location to either the second file location or a third file location and replacing the edited electronic data with a stub file.
11. The method of claim 7 , further comprising updating the stub file with information indicative of the edits to the retrieved electronic data.
12. The method of claim 7 , further comprising intercepting the access request with a stackable loopback file system.
13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising invoking a restore daemon in the stackable loopback file system to determine a directory comprising the second location.
14. The method of claim 7 , wherein said retrieving the electronic data further comprises determining if the second storage device is mounted and, if not mounted, mounting the second storage device.
15. The method of claim 7 , wherein said copying the electronic data is performed by a data migrator module of the network attached storage device.