Systems and methods for recovering electronic information from a storage medium

Abstract

In one embodiment of the invention, a method is provided for retrieving certain electronic information previously stored on certain storage media after a threshold set in the storage retention criteria has been exceeded in an electronic information storage system that stores electronic information on storage media in accordance with a storage retention criteria is provided. The method includes storing a record in a memory associated with a system manager that assigns the storage retention criteria to the certain electronic data, designating the storage media available for overwrite after the threshold set in the storage retention policy has been exceeded, identifying the certain storage media available for overwrite, and retrieving information from the certain media after the threshold set in the storage retention policy has been exceeded.

1 . A method for use with at least one data storage device in communication with at least one computer, the method comprising:
 causing data to be written to a data storage medium,
 wherein the writing of the data is performed in accordance with a data retention policy that defines a time period during which the data is not to be overwritten; 
   causing an index to be updated to include location information
 wherein the location information indicates the data is stored on a certain location of the storage medium; and 
   after the time period lapses,
 designating, as available for overwrite, the certain location of the data storage medium that contains the data; and 
 deleting from the updated index the location information related to the data only after at least a portion of the data is overwritten. 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 storing the location information related to the data to an index separate from the updated index, wherein the index separate from the updated index includes location information related to data that has been partially overwritten.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the portion of the data overwritten is the entire data. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 retrieving, using the location information from the updated index, at least some of the data from the storage medium after the time period has lapsed.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising searching for and displaying information regarding identification of the storage media that contains the data. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the data is overwritten after a threshold is exceeded. 
     
     
         7 . A method for selectively retrieving data from data storage media, the method comprising:
 retaining data on at least one data storage medium under at least one storage policy until at least portions of the at least one data storage medium is available for overwrite when data stored on the portions of the at least one data storage medium exceeds a threshold,
 wherein the threshold was previously established by a storage policy; and 
   maintaining a data structure reflecting that the data stored on the portions of the at least one data storage medium has exceeded the threshold,
 wherein the maintaining of the data structure regarding the data that has exceeded the threshold in the storage policy includes preventing erasure of the maintained data structure before the data that has exceeded the threshold is overwritten. 
   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7  further comprising retrieving data from portions of at least one of the data storage medium. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 7  further comprising providing a user interface that allows searching of multiple data storage media for data that has exceeded a threshold established in the storage policy and not overwritten. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 7  further comprising providing a user interface that allows searching for and display indicia regarding data storage media that contain data that have exceeded a threshold established in the storage policy and not overwritten, and wherein the indicia includes information regarding a physical location of the data storage media. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 7  further comprising preferentially overwriting data stored on the data storage media based on data age. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 7  further comprising preferentially overwriting data stored on the data storage media based on data type or based on user defined criteria. 
     
     
         13 . A method for recovering information from a storage media comprising:
 defining a data retention policy,
 wherein data is retained on the storage media in accordance with the data retention policy; 
   determining that at least a portion of the storage media that contains the data is available to be overwritten; and   continuing to maintain information regarding the data after the portion of the storage media is available to be overwritten,
 wherein the continuing to maintain information includes maintaining location information related to the data until at least some of the data is overwritten. 
   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13  wherein the maintaining includes mainlining information regarding the data until the data is overwritten on the storage media. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13  further comprising retrieving at least some of the data from the storage media after the portion of the storage media is designated available to be overwritten. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 13  further comprising searching for and displaying an indication of the data on a displaying screen. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 13  further comprising searching for and displaying information regarding identification of the storage media that contains the data. 
     
     
         18 . A method for use with at least one data storage device in communication with at least one computer, the method comprising:
 defining a data retention policy,
 wherein the data retention policy defines a time period during which data on a data storage medium is not to be overwritten; 
   causing a data structure to be updated to include data location information,
 wherein the data location information indicates that the data is stored at a certain location or at certain locations of the data storage medium; and 
   after the time period lapses,
 designating the certain location or certain locations of the data storage medium as available for overwrite; and 
 deleting from the data structure the location information related to the data only after at least a portion of the data is overwritten. 
   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , further comprising:
 storing the data location information to an index separate from the data structure, wherein the index includes location information related to data that has been partially overwritten.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18 , further comprising:
 retrieving, using the data location information from the data structure, at least some of the data from the storage medium after the time period has lapsed.   
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 18  further comprising searching for and displaying information regarding identification of the storage media that contains the data. 
     
     
         22 . A system for use with data storage media, the system comprising:
 means for writing a section of data to a data storage medium, wherein the writing includes writing the section of data in accordance with a data retention policy that defines a minimum time period during which the section of data cannot be overwritten;   means for updating an index to include location information that indicates the section of data is stored on a certain portion of the storage medium;   means for designating, after the minimum time period lapses, that the certain portion of the data storage medium is available to be overwritten; and   means for deleting from the updated index the location information related to the section of data only after at least a portion of the section of data is overwritten.