A data storage system according to certain aspects manages and administers the sharing of storage resources among clients in the shared storage pool. The shared storage pool according to certain aspects can provide readily available remote storage to clients in the pool. A share list for each client may be used to determine where data is stored within the storage pool. The share list may include clients that are known to each client, and therefore, a user may feel more at ease storing the data on the clients in the storage pool. Management and administration of the storage pool and backup and restore jobs can be performed by an entity other than the client, making backup and restore more streamlined and simple for the clients in the pool.