US Patent 7840992 System and method for environmentally aware data protection

Described are a system and method for providing data protection. A storage management system in communication with first and second storage arrays is configured to implement a data protection procedure for protecting data stored in the first storage array using the second storage array. An environmental information processor receives information related to an event that can threaten the data stored in the first storage array and, based on the received information, issues a command to the storage management system. The command causes the storage management system to initiate the data protection procedure as a precautionary action for protecting the data stored at the first storage array.