Filtered reference copy of secondary storage data in a data storage system

A method of restoring secondary copy data in a networked storage system using a filtered representation of the secondary copy data, comprising:

• providing access to a filtered representation comprising a data structure that includes references to a subset of a plurality of files in secondary storage that meet filtering criteria and includes source information related to the files in the subset,
• wherein the subset of the plurality of files are stored in a native format associated with software or applications that generated the plurality of files, and
• wherein the subset of the plurality of files was identified by one or more first software modules executing on one or more first computing devices;
• wherein the filtered representation is viewable by a user and shows a listing of the subset of the plurality of files;
• with a second software module executing on a second computing device,
• receiving a request to restore a file in the filtered representation;
• accessing the reference to the file in the data structure;
• and
• initiating copying of the file from the secondary storage to primary storage.

A data storage system configured for creating a filtered representation of secondary copy data, comprising:

• computer hardware comprising one or more processors;
• a reference copy module executing in the one or more processors of the computer hardware and configured to:
• initiate copying of data comprising a plurality of files generated by applications executing on one or more client computers from primary storage to secondary storage, wherein the plurality of files are stored in the secondary storage in a native format associated with the applications that generated the plurality of files;
• access filtering criteria for identifying a subset of the plurality of files;
• instruct a media agent module executing in one or more processors to identify a subset of the plurality of files that meet the filtering criteria;
• create a filtered representation comprising a data structure that includes references to the subset of the plurality of files identified by the media agent module that meet the filtering criteria and source information related to the files in the subset;
• and
• provide access to the filtered representation,
• wherein the filtered representation is viewable by a user and shows a listing of the identified subset of the plurality of files.