Method and system for searching stored data

Abstract

A complete document management system is disclosed. Accordingly, systems and methods for managing data associated with a data storage component coupled to multiple computers over a network are disclosed. Systems and methods for managing data associated with a data storage component coupled to multiple computers over a network are further disclosed. Additionally, systems and methods for accessing documents available through a network, wherein the documents are stored on one or more data storage devices coupled to the network, are disclosed.

1 . A computing system for managing data associated with a data storage component, wherein the data storage component is coupled to multiple computers over a network, the computing system comprising:
 a processor;   a memory;   a data storage management component for managing primary copies of data stored within the data storage component and managing secondary copies of the primary copies of the data stored within the data storage component, wherein the secondary copies include copies having two or more storage formats, the two or more storage formats being different than a native format of the primary copies of the data;   a content indexing component for creating or updating at least one index of the stored data managed by the data storage management component, wherein the at least one index includes a first set of information resulting from indexing the primary copies of the data and a second set of information resulting from indexing the secondary copies of the data; and   a web-based search component for searching for stored data, wherein the search component is configured to search the first and second sets of information included in the at least one index for content within the primary copies and the secondary copies based on a single query.   
   
   
       2 . The computing system of  claim 1 , further comprising a metabase associated with the data storage management component, the metabase storing metadata referring to the stored data managed by the data storage management component. 
   
   
       3 . The computing system of  claim 1 , wherein the search component is configured to search for a user-specified parameter in the at least one index. 
   
   
       4 . The computing system of  claim 1 , further comprising a data security component configured to permit access only to stored data satisfying a predefined security level. 
   
   
       5 . The computing system of  claim 1 , further comprising a data security component configured to disallow access to stored data having a predefined security level. 
   
   
       6 . The computing system of  claim 1 , wherein the web-based search component provides an interface for receiving a search parameter from a user, and wherein the search parameter specifies a client or volume for searching. 
   
   
       7 . The computing system of  claim 1 , wherein the secondary copies comprise backup copies and archive copies. 
   
   
       8 . A method performed by a computing system having a processor and memory for managing data associated with a data storage component, wherein the data storage component is coupled to multiple computers over a network, the method comprising:
 managing primary copies of data stored within the data storage component and secondary copies of the primary copies of the data stored within the data storage component, wherein the secondary copies include copies having two or more storage formats, the two or more storage formats being different than a native format of the primary copies of the data;   creating or updating, by the computing system, at least one index of the stored data managed by the data storage management component, wherein the at least one index includes a first set of information about content within the primary copies of the data and a second set of information about content within the secondary copies of the data; and   searching the at least one index for content within the primary copies and the secondary copies based on a single query.   
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising creating or updating, by the computing system, a metabase associated with the data storage component, the metabase storing metadata referring to the data. 
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising performing storage operations on the data stored within the data storage component based on a set of preferences or other criteria. 
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the secondary copies comprise backup copies and archive copies. 
   
   
       12 . A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computing system having a processor and memory, cause the computing system to perform a method of managing data associated with a data storage component, wherein the data storage component is coupled to multiple computers over a network, the method comprising:
 managing primary copies of data stored within the data storage component and secondary copies of the primary copies of the data stored within the data storage component, wherein the secondary copies include copies having two or more storage formats, the two or more storage formats being different than a native format of the primary copies of the data;   creating or updating, by the computing system, at least one index of the stored data managed by the data storage management component wherein the at least one index includes a first set of information about content within the primary copies of the data and a second set of information about content within the secondary copies of the data; and   searching the at least one index for content within the primary copies and the secondary copies based on a single query.   
   
   
       13 . A computing system for searching data stored in data storage media, the computing system comprising:
 a processor;   a memory;   an index component, wherein the index component is configured to:
 create an index entry, in a single index for data stored in the data storage media, to include information associated with a first production copy of a first electronic document, the first production copy having a first native format; 
 create an index entry in the single index to include information associated with a second production copy of a second electronic document, the second production copy having a second native format, wherein the second native format is different than the first native format; 
 create an index entry in the single index to include information associated with a first secondary copy of the first electronic document, the first secondary copy having a first non-native format; and 
 create an index entry in the single index to include information associated with a second secondary copy of the second electronic document, the second secondary copy having a second non-native format, wherein the second non-native format is different than the first non-native format; and 
   a search component, wherein the search component is configured to:
 receive a request to query the single index, wherein the request includes specific search criteria; 
 query the single index to locate information associated with the production copies and secondary copies that satisfies the specific search criteria, wherein the querying includes querying the single index for information associated with the first production copy, the second production copy, the first secondary copy, and the second secondary copy; and 
 present a result of the query. 
   
   
   
       14 . The computing system of  claim 13 , wherein the production copies are stored within hard disks associated with the first electronic document or the second electronic document and the secondary copies are stored within magnetic tapes located off site from the hard disks. 
   
   
       15 . The computing system of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 a pruning component, wherein the pruning component is configured to remove the first production copy of the first electronic document and the second production copy of the second electronic document;   wherein the presented result of the query includes information identifying the first production copy of the first electronic document or the second production copy of the second electronic document.   
   
   
       16 . The computing system of  claim 13 , wherein the information associated with the first production copy, the second production copy, the first secondary copy, or the second secondary copy includes information identifying a time of creation of the copy. 
   
   
       17 . The computing system of  claim 13 , wherein the information associated with the first production copy, the second production copy, the first secondary copy, or the second secondary copy includes information identifying a location of creation of the copy. 
   
   
       18 . The computing system of  claim 13 , wherein the search component includes a TCP/IP-based graphical user interface for receiving user input identifying the request, the user input identifying data to be used by the search component in the query. 
   
   
       19 . The computing system of  claim 13 , wherein the search component is configured to receive search criteria input via a web browser. 
   
   
       20 . The computing system of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 a metabase, wherein the metabase is configured to store the information associated with the copies as metadata relating to the electronic documents.   
   
   
       21 . The computing system of  claim 13 , wherein presenting a result of the query includes:
 presenting a first copy of an electronic document, wherein presenting a first copy includes presenting a production copy having a format similar to the electronic document; and   presenting a second copy of the electronic document, wherein presenting the second copy includes:
 retrieving a secondary copy having a format different than the format of the electronic document; 
 converting the secondary copy to a format similar to the format of the electronic document; and 
 presenting the converted secondary copy. 
   
   
   
       22 . A method in a computing system having a processor and memory for searching data stored in data storage media, the system comprising:
 building, by the computing system, an index of data stored in data storage media, wherein building the index includes:
 creating an index entry to include information associated with a first production copy of a first electronic document, the first production copy having a first native format; 
 creating an index entry to include information associated with a second production copy of a second electronic document, the second production copy having a second native format, wherein the second native format is different than the first native format; 
 creating an index entry to include information associated with a first secondary copy of the first electronic document, the first secondary copy having a first non-native format; and 
 creating an index entry to include information associated with a second secondary copy of the second electronic document, the second secondary copy having a second non-native format, wherein the second non-native format is different than the first non-native format; 
   receiving from a user a request to query the built index, wherein the request includes one or more search criteria;   querying the built index to locate production copies and secondary copies that satisfy the request, wherein the querying includes querying the index of the first production copy, the second production copy, the first secondary copy, and the second secondary copy; and   presenting a result of the query to the user.   
   
   
       23 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein creating the index entry to include information associated with the first secondary copy of the first electronic document includes creating the index entry to include the information associated with the first secondary copy before converting the first secondary copy to the non-native format. 
   
   
       24 . A method in a computing system having a processor and memory for retrieving data stored across two or more types of data storage media, the method comprising:
 for a first data set, performing, by the computing system:
 creating a primary copy of the first data set; 
 storing the primary copy of the first data set within first data storage media, wherein the first data storage media is located at a first disk drive; 
 identifying information associated with the primary copy of the first data set; 
 generating an index entry relating the primary copy of the first data set with the identified information associated with the primary copy of the first data set; 
 updating a single index that tracks data stored in data storage media with the index entry associated with the primary copy of the first data set, wherein the data storage media includes the first data storage media; 
 transferring the primary copy of the first data set to create a secondary copy of the primary copy of the first data set; 
 storing the secondary copy of the primary copy of the first data set to the first data storage media; 
 identifying information associated with the secondary copy of the primary copy of the first data set; 
 generating an index entry relating the secondary copy of the primary copy of the first data set with the identified information associated with the secondary copy of the primary copy of the first data set; 
 updating the single index that tracks data stored in the data storage media with the index entry associated with the secondary copy of the primary copy of the first data set; 
 transferring the secondary copy of the primary copy of the first data set to create a first auxiliary copy, wherein the first auxiliary copy includes a data format different than a format of the primary copy of the first data set and a format of the secondary copy of the primary copy of the first data set; 
 storing the first auxiliary copy to first removable data storage media at a location different than a location of the first disk drive, wherein the data storage media includes the first removable data storage media; 
 identifying information associated with the first auxiliary copy; 
 generating an index entry relating the first auxiliary copy with the identified information associated with the first auxiliary copy; and 
 updating the single index of data stored across the data storage media with the index entry associated with the first auxiliary copy; 
   for a second data set, different than the first data set, performing by the computing system:
 creating a primary copy of the second data set; 
 storing the primary copy of the second data set within second data storage media, wherein the second data storage media is located at a second disk drive; 
 identifying information associated with the primary copy of the second data set; 
 generating an index entry relating the primary copy of the second data set with the identified information associated with the primary copy of the second data set; 
 updating the single index that tracks data in the data storage media with the index entry associated with the primary copy of the second data set, wherein the data storage media includes the second data storage media; 
 transferring the primary copy of the second data set to create a secondary copy of the primary copy of the second data set; 
 storing the secondary copy of the primary copy of the second data set to the second data storage media; 
 identifying information associated with the secondary copy of the primary copy of the secondary data set; 
 generating an index entry relating the secondary copy of the primary copy of the second data set with the identified information associated with the secondary copy of the primary copy of the second data set; 
 updating the single index that tracks the data in the data storage media with the index entry associated with the secondary copy of the primary copy of the second data set; 
 transferring the secondary copy of the primary copy of the secondary data set to create a second auxiliary copy, wherein the second auxiliary copy includes a data format different than a format of the primary copy of the second data set and a format of the secondary copy of the primary copy of the second data set; 
 storing the second auxiliary copy to second removable data storage media at a location different than a location of the second disk drive, wherein the data storage media includes the second removable data storage media; 
 identifying information associated with the second auxiliary copy; 
 generating an index entry relating the second auxiliary copy with the identified information associated with the second auxiliary copy; and 
 updating the single index that tracks the data in the data storage media with the index entry associated with the second auxiliary copy; 
   receiving from a user a request to locate data from the first data set or the second data set, wherein the request includes information associated with the data;   querying the single index of data stored across the data storage media for the requested information; wherein querying includes searching the information associated with the primary copy of the first data set, the secondary copy of the primary copy of the first data set, the first auxiliary copy, the primary copy of the second data set, the secondary copy of the primary copy of the second data set, and the second auxiliary copy; and   presenting a result of the query to the user, wherein presenting the result of the query includes identifying one or more copies related to the requested information.   
   
   
       25 . A method performed by a computing system having a processor and memory for providing search results, the method comprising:
 receiving a search query from a user, wherein the search query includes one or more search criteria;   accessing one or more indices, wherein the one or more indices include:
 a first set of index information generated from a first set of data items; 
 a second set of index information generated from a second set of data items, the second set of data items created as a result of a first data storage operation performed on the second set of data items; and 
 a third set of index information generated from a third set of data items, the third set of data items created as a result of a second data storage operation performed on either the first set of data items or the second set of data items; 
   determining, by the computing system, index information of the first, second, and/or third sets that satisfies the one or more search criteria;   determining, by the computing system, data items of the first, second, and/or third sets corresponding to the determined index information; and   providing search results corresponding to the data items of the first, second, and/or third sets for display to the user, such that the user may select a data item of the first, second, and/or third sets for display or retrieval.   
   
   
       26 . The method of  claim 25  wherein:
 the first set of data items are stored by one or more computing devices;   the second set of index information is generated so as not to negatively impact the one or more computing devices; and   the third set of index information is generated so as not to negatively impact the one or more computing devices.   
   
   
       27 . The method of  claim 25  wherein some of the third set of data items are stored on one or more tapes at an off-site location, some of the search results correspond to the third set of data items stored on the one or more tapes, and wherein the method further comprises:
 estimating a time to retrieve the third set of data items stored on the one or more tapes; and   providing the estimate in association with the search results, so that the user may ascertain the estimated time to retrieve the third set of data items.   
   
   
       28 . The method of  claim 25  wherein the one or more search criteria specify that search results corresponding to one or more of the first, second, and third sets of data items are to be provided.