One embodiment is related to a method for generating a searchable metadata table based on a backup data stream from a client to a backup system, comprising: generating a plurality of intermediate tables; and generating a searchable metadata table based on the plurality of intermediate tables, wherein the searchable metadata table may comprise, for each file or directory in a row, an inode number, a metadata hash value, an acl hash value, a name, a full path, a size, and a time of last modification.