Abstract: Described is a system and method that facilitates fast and reliable discovery, enumeration, and processing of network shared resources. A file system processing subsystem (date engine) operates in a combined discovery, enumeration, and processing manner to provide access and operation as directed by the client to effect data collection and copying. The discovery, enumeration, and action operations use parallel operation and I/O (input/outputA) pipelining. Multiple threads are used during this process to enumerate each object's children, and enqueues each child to be handled by a new thread. For each network object discovered, the subsystem creates an object embodying operation and context information, and queues that object as a self-contained, asynchronous work item for a process thread pool to handle.