Online storage with metadata-based retrieval

A system that facilitates updating data, the system comprising:

• a component embodied on a computer-readable storage medium that facilitates rendering on a local device a unified representation of content maintained within a plurality of network devices, wherein the unified representation is based upon locally stored metadata of the content and facilitates grouping the local representation of the content according to type, date, and author associated with the content independent of network locations of the content;
• a management component embodied on a computer-readable storage medium that polls at least one of the plurality of network devices for an update to the metadata that corresponds to a data item included in the content, wherein the management component receives a metadata update request from one of the plurality of network devices via a metadata communication path that provides a metadata transfer path between the plurality of network devices, wherein the metadata transfer path comprises a metadata bus dedicated to communication of metadata;
• and
• a synchronization component embodied on a computer-readable storage medium that synchronizes the locally stored metadata in accordance with the update without synchronizing the corresponding data file to the local device, wherein the synchronization component allows a user at the local device to modify the locally stored metadata and synchronize the modified metadata to the network device storing the corresponding data item, wherein the synchronization component transfers the updated metadata in response to the metadata update request from the one of the plurality of network devices, wherein the one of the plurality of network devices streams a data file that corresponds to the updated metadata independent of metadata.