Abstract text

Storing a file on a virtual file system associated with a portable media drive. The virtual file system includes the portable media drive and allocated storage of a plurality of storage servers. The file is partitioned into a local portion and at least one remote portion. The local portion is stored on the portable media drive and the remote portions are transferred to a process server. The process server treats each portion as an independent file and stores it to an appropriate storage server without reference to the original file, to other portions, or to the user. For a virtually compressed file, the storage size of the file on the virtual file system is calculated as a function of the storage size of the local portion on the portable media drive.