US Patent 9262449 Automated, tiered data retention

The automatic, tiered retention storage system according to certain aspects can automatically classify data items based on content, such as based on the inclusion of search terms in the data items, or based on metadata or other characteristics associated with the data. Based on the classification, the system can assign the data items to corresponding user-defined “buckets.” In some embodiments, each bucket is associated with a particular tier in the storage system having a specific retention period.