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System and method for efficiently duplicating data in a storage system, eliminating the need to read the source data or write the target data

  • US 10,642,795 B2
  • Filed: 06/21/2013
  • Issued: 05/05/2020
  • Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2013
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A method of making a copy of data having metadata in a data deduplication system, comprising:

  • identifying a physical data block in the deduplication system, the physical data block having stored therein data to be copied as part of a copy operation;

    without reading the physical data block by the deduplication system, reading metadata associated with the identified physical data block, the metadata including both a fingerprint of the data and a first logical block pointer that relates a first logical block address of the physical data block to a physical block address of the physical data block;

    without reading the physical data block by the deduplication system, creating a logical copy of the metadata by copying the metadata to include a copy of the fingerprint and a second logical block pointer that relates a second logical block address of the physical data block to the physical block address of the physical data block; and

    without reading the physical data block by the deduplication system, incrementing a reference count of the physical data block, wherein the reference count indicates the number of instances of logical data blocks that point to the physical data block, the reference count stored in a deduplication table of the deduplication system so as to protect integrity of the physical data block.

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