System and method for performing auxillary storage operations

A method which, when executed on a computer, stores data in a tiered storage system, the method comprising:

• accessing a storage policy associated with at tiered data storage system, wherein the storage policy defines copying source data from a data source to at least two distinct storage media destinations in the tiered data storage system;
• copying the source data according to said storage policy from the data source to a first buffer location to produce intermediate data, wherein said copying comprises:
• dividing the source data into a plurality of portions, and
• assigning by a media management component each of the plurality of portions a tag header, the tag header comprising the two distinct storage media destinations associated with the storage policy, the two distinct storage media destinations comprising a first storage media destination and a second storage media destination and wherein a media management component reads the tag header to determine types of storage associated with the first and second media destinations and to perform read or write operations using the formatting required for the types of storage, and copying the intermediate data, according to said tag headers, to the first storage media destination to produce a primary copy of the source data;
• and
• while the primary copy is being produced, simultaneously streaming one or more portions of the intermediate data, according to said tag headers, to the second storage media destination to produce a secondary copy of the source data.

A method for performing multiple storage operations on data in a tiered storage system, the method comprising:

• receiving storage policy information from a storage manager module, the storage policy information associated with a tiered data storage system, wherein the storage policy defines copying source data from a data source to distinct first and second storage media destinations;
• copying the source data according to said storage policy information from the data source to a first buffer location to produce intermediate data, wherein said copying comprises,
• obtaining the source data from the data store using at least one media agent module,
• dividing the source data into a plurality of chunks,
• associating by a media management component each of the plurality of chunks with a header portion, wherein each header portion indicates at least the following information:
• (1) at least the first and second storage media destinations to which the corresponding one of the plurality of chunks is to be copied,
• (2) first and second distinct types of storage associated with the first and second storage media destinations to which the corresponding one of the plurality of chunks is to be copied, and
• (3) one or more times at which the corresponding one of the plurality of chunks is to be copied, and
• reading the header portions with a media management component to determine first and second types of storage associated with the first and second storage media destinations and to perform read or write operations using the formatting required for the first and second types of storage;
• copying the intermediate data, according to the information stored in said header portions, to the first storage media destination to produce a first copy of the source data on the first type of storage;
• and
• while the first copy is being produced, simultaneously streaming copies of one or more chunks of the intermediate data, according to the information stored in said header portions, to the second storage media destination to produce a second copy of the source data on the second type of storage.