A method and system thereof for organizing and accessing stored data in a mass storage unit such as a hard disk device. An object is associated with the stored data, and a unique object identifier is derived for and assigned to the object by the hard disk device. The object is addressed by its object identifier. The object is maintained in a hierarchical organization with other objects. The hierarchical organization includes an object list that contains the object identifier and also includes object identifiers for the other objects. Commands are defined for accessing and operating on the stored data using the object identifier for the object associated with the data. Thus, objects are named and organized on a hard disk device in an audio/visual network in a uniform manner, and the objects are represented to devices in the AV network so that they can be readily accessed and retrieved by those devices. In one embodiment, the unique object identifier includes a first portion representing a unique vendor number for the particular hard disk device and a second portion representing a unique assignment such as the date and time that the object was created.