A storage and data management system establishes a data transfer pipeline between an application and a storage media using a source data mover and a destination data mover. The data movers are modular software entities which compartmentalize the differences between operating systems and media types. In addition, they independently interact to perform encryption, compression, etc., based on the content of a file as it is being communicated through the pipeline. Headers and chunking of data occurs when beneficial without the application ever having to be aware. Faster access times and storage mapping offer enhanced user interaction.