Computer storage systems

• US 20030005235A1
• Filed: 07/02/2002
• Published: 01/02/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 07/02/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Young, Marcus C.
• Granted Patent: US 6,898,681 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/141
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1446 Point-in-time backing up or restoration of persistent data
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99955 Archiving or backup

Abstract

A system for providing a copy of data at a point in time, has: a data storage device including a master store arranged to store blocks of data, at least one subsidiary store to store point in time copy data having blocks of data copied from said master store at a particular point in time, and a bitmap store associated with each the subsidiary store to store data indicating when a data block of the master store differs from a corresponding data block stored in the associated subsidiary store. Where more than one subsidiary stores and associated bitmap stores are provided, a controller may make different point in time copies in different subsidiary stores. A number of master stores may also be provided, each associated with a corresponding subsidiary store and a bitmap store. In this case, the controller may ensure that point in time copies of all the master stores are made at the same point in time. Data from a master store may be stored in a subsidiary store only when it is to be replaced in the master store. In this case, the subsidiary store may be smaller in capacity than the master store and an overflow store may be provided for use when the subsidiary store is full.

Claims

1. A system for providing a copy of data at a point in time, comprising:

a data storage device, comprising

a master store arranged to store blocks of data,

a plurality of subsidiary stores each arranged to store point in time copy data comprising blocks of data copied from said master store at a particular point in time, and

a plurality of bitmap stores each bitmap store being associated with a corresponding different one of the subsidiary stores and being configured to store data indicating when a data block of the master store differs from a corresponding data block stored in the associated subsidiary store; and

a controller configured to generate point in time copies,

the controller being arranged, in response to a request to generate a first point in time copy at a first point in time, to check, when a data block in the master store is about to be changed, whether the data in that data block at the first point in time has already been copied to a first one of the subsidiary stores, and, if not, to copy that data to the first subsidiary store,

the controller further being arranged, in response to a request to generate a second point in time copy at a second point in time, to check, when a data block in the master store is about to be changed, whether the data in that data block at the second point in time has already been copied to a second one of the subsidiary stores, and, if not, to copy that data to the second subsidiary store,

the controller also being arranged to maintain data indicating differences between the master store and each point in time copy by causing data to be stored in the associated bitmap store to indicate when a data block in the master store differs from a corresponding data block of the point in time copy.

2. A system according to claim 1, wherein the controller is arranged, in response to a request to generate a point in time copy at a point in time, also to check whether or not each block of data present in the master store at the point in time has been copied to the subsidiary store and to copy any of those blocks of data not already in the subsidiary store to the subsidiary store to generate the first point in time copy so that the subsidiary store contains a copy of each block of data in the master store.

3. A system according to claim 1, wherein the controller is arranged to overwrite a point in time copy in response to a user instruction.

4. A system according to claim 1, wherein the controller is arranged to allow a user to select whether or not the first point in time copy is overwritten with the second point in time copy.

5. A system according to claim 2, wherein the bitmap store is configured also to store data indicating whether or not each block of data present in the master store at a particular point in time has been copied to the associated subsidiary store, and the controller is arranged to check the data in the bitmap store to determine if the blocks of data need to be copied to the associated subsidiary store to generate the point in time copy.

14. A system according to claim 1, wherein the controller is arranged, in response to a request to restore a master copy from one of the first and second point in time copies, to identify from the bitmap store for that point in time copy any data block in the master store that differs from the corresponding data block in that point in time copy and to copy from the associated subsidiary store to the master store the or each identified data block to restore the point in time copy as a master copy in the master store.

15. A system according to claim 1, wherein each bitmap store comprises a data bitmap configured to store, for each data block of the master store, data indicating whether or not that data block differs from the corresponding data block of the associated point in time copy and a copy bitmap arranged to store copy data for each data block of the master store, the copy bitmap being configured such that a bit in the data bitmap indicating that a data block in the master store differs from the corresponding data block of the associated point in time copy would represent in the copy bitmap a copy bit indicating that the data block should be copied, and wherein the controller is arranged, in response to a request to restore a master copy from one of the first and second point in time copies, to copy the data in the associated data bitmap to the associated copy bitmap, to identify any data block associated with a copy bit and, for the or each identified data block, to copy the data block from the associated subsidiary store to the master store and to reset the copy bit after the data block has been copied back to the master store.

16. A system according to claim 2, wherein each bitmap store comprises a data bitmap configured to store, for each data block of the master store, data indicating whether or not that data block differs from the corresponding data block of the associated point in time copy and a copy bitmap configured to store copy data for each data block of the master store, and the controller is arranged, in response to a request to restore a master copy from one of the first and second point in time copies, to set each bit in the copy bitmap as a copy bit representing that the data block should be copied, to copy each data block in the associated subsidiary store to the master store, to reset a copy bit after the corresponding data block has been copied back to the master store and to determine that the one of the first and second point in time copies has been restored as a master copy in the master store when all the copy bits in the associated copy bitmap have been reset.

17. A system according to claim 2, wherein the controller is arranged, after a point in time copy has been created, to update the data in the bitmap store indicating differences between the master store and each subsidiary store each time a data block in the master store is overwritten after creation of a point in time copy in that subsidiary store and the controller is also configured, in response to a request to create a subsequent point in time copy, to determine from the data in the bitmap store indicating differences between the master store and the subsidiary store any data block in the master store that differs from the corresponding data block in that subsidiary store and to copy each such data block from the master store to that subsidiary store to create the subsequent point in time copy.

24. A system according to claim 2, wherein the controller is arranged to overwrite a point in time copy in response to a user instruction.

25. A system according to claim 2, wherein the controller is arranged to allow a user to select whether or not the first point in time copy is overwritten with the second point in time copy.

6. A system for providing a copy of data at a point in time, comprising:

a data storage device, comprising

a plurality of master stores each arranged to store blocks of data,

a plurality of subsidiary stores each associated with a corresponding one of the master stores and each arranged to store point in time copy data comprising blocks of data copied from said master store for a point in time, and

a plurality of bitmap stores each bitmap store being associated with a corresponding different one of the master stores and being configured to store data indicating when a data block of the master store differs from a corresponding data block stored in the associated subsidiary store; and

a controller configured to generate a point in time copy,

the controller being arranged, in response to a request to generate a point in time copy at a point in time, to check, when a data block in a master store is about to be changed, whether the data in that data block for the associated point in time copy has already been copied to the associated subsidiary store, and, if not, to copy that data to the associated subsidiary store,

the controller also being arranged to maintain data indicating differences between the master store and the point in time copy by causing data to be stored in the associated bitmap store to indicate when a data block in the master store differs from a corresponding data block of the point in time copy.

7. A system according to claim 6, wherein the controller is arranged, in response to a request to generate a point in time copy, also to check whether or not each block of data present in the corresponding master store at the point in time has been copied to the corresponding subsidiary store and to copy any of those blocks of data not already in the subsidiary store to that subsidiary store to cause each subsidiary store to contain a copy of each block of data in the corresponding master store.

8. A system according to claim 7, wherein the controller is arranged to generate the point in time copies for the different master stores for the same point in time.

9. A system according to claim 6, wherein the plurality of subsidiary stores are replaced by a shared overflow store arranged to store point in time copy data comprising blocks of data copied from each of said master stores at particular points in time, such that:

each bitmap store being associated with a corresponding different one of the master stores and configured to store data indicating when a data block of a master store differs from a corresponding data block stored in the overflow store and to which blocks in the overflow store the blocks of data from each of said master stores have been copied, and

the controller being arranged, in response to a request to generate a point in time copy at a point in time, to check, when a data block in the master store is about to be changed, whether the data in that data block for the point in time copy has already been copied to the overflow store, and, if not, to copy that data to the overflow store and to store in the associated bitmap data representing the address of the block in the overflow store to which the data was copied.

10. A system according to claim 9, wherein the controller is arranged, in response to a request to generate a point in time copy, also to check whether or not each block of data present in the master store at the point in time has been copied to the overflow store and to copy any of those blocks of data not already in the overflow store to the overflow store so that the overflow store contains a copy of each block of data.

18. A system according to claim 6, wherein the controller is arranged, in response to a request to restore a master copy from a point in time copy, to identify from the bitmap store for the point in time copy any data block in the corresponding master store that differs from the corresponding data block in the point in time copy and to copy any such identified data block from the associated subsidiary store to the corresponding master store to restore a master copy in the master store.

19. A system according to claim 6, wherein each bitmap store comprises a data bitmap configured to store, for each data block of the master store, the data indicating whether or not that data block differs from the corresponding data block of the associated point in time copy and a copy bitmap configured to store copy data for each data block of the master store, the copy bitmap being configured such that a bit in the data bitmap indicating that a data block in the master store differs from the corresponding data block of the associated point in time copy would represent in the copy bitmap a copy bit indicating that the data block should be copied, and wherein the controller is arranged, in response to a request to restore a master copy from a point in time copy, to copy the data in the associated data bitmap to the associated copy bitmap, the controller also being arranged to copy from the associated subsidiary store to the master store any data block associated with such a copy bit, to reset a copy bit after the corresponding data block has been copied back to the master store and to determine that a master copy has been restored in the master store when all the copy bits in the associated copy bitmap have been reset.

20. A system according to claim 7, wherein each bitmap store comprises a data bitmap configured to store, for each data block of the master store, the data indicating whether or not that data block differs from the corresponding data block of the associated subsidiary store and a copy bitmap configured to store copy data for each data block of the master store, and the controller is arranged, in response to a request to restore a master copy from a point in time copy, to set each bit in the copy bitmap as a copy bit representing that the data block should be copied, to copy each data block in the associated subsidiary store to the master store, to reset a copy bit after the corresponding data block has been copied back to the master store and to determine that a master copy has been restored in the master store when all the copy bits in the associated copy bitmap have been reset.

21. A system according to claim 7, wherein the controller is arranged, after a point in time copy has been created, to update the data indicating differences between a master store and a corresponding subsidiary store each time a data block in the master store is overwritten after creation of a point in time copy using that subsidiary store and the controller is also configured, in response to a request to create a subsequent point in time copy, to determine from the data indicating differences between the master store and the subsidiary store any data block in the master store that differs from the corresponding data block in that subsidiary store and to copy each such data block from the master store to that subsidiary store to create the subsequent point in time copy.

26. A system according to claim 7, wherein the controller is arranged to generate the point in time copies for the different master stores for the same point in time.

27. A system according to claim 7, wherein the plurality of subsidiary stores are replaced by a shared overflow store arranged to store point in time copy data comprising blocks of data copied from each of said master stores at particular points in time, such that:

each bitmap store being associated with a corresponding different one of the master stores and configured to store data indicating when a data block of a master store differs from a corresponding data block stored in the overflow store and to which blocks in the overflow store the blocks of data from each of said master stores have been copied, and

the controller being arranged, in response to a request to generate a point in time copy at a point in time, to check, when a data block in the master store is about to be changed, whether the data in that data block for the point in time copy has already been copied to the overflow store, and, if not, to copy that data to the overflow store and to store in the associated bitmap data representing the address of the block in the overflow store to which the data was copied.

11. A system for providing a copy of data at a point in time, comprising;

a data storage device, comprising

a master store arranged to store blocks of data,

a subsidiary store arranged to store point in time copy data comprising blocks of data copied from said master store for the same particular point in time, wherein the master store is capable of storing more blocks of data than the subsidiary store, and

a bitmap store associated with the master store and being configured to store data indicating when a data block of the master store differs from a corresponding data block stored in the subsidiary store and to which blocks in the subsidiary store the blocks of data from said master store have been copied; and

a controller configured to generate a point in time copy,

the controller being arranged, in response to a request to generate a point in time copy at a point in time, to check, when a data block in the master store is about to be changed, whether the data in that data block for the point in time copy has already been copied to the subsidiary store, and, if not, to copy that data to the subsidiary store and to store in the bitmap store address data representing the address of the block in the subsidiary store to which the data was copied,

the controller also being arranged to maintain data indicating differences between the master store and the point in time copy by causing data to be stored in the bitmap store to indicate when a data block in the master store differs from a corresponding data block of the point in time copy.

12. A system according to claim 11, further comprising an overflow store arranged to store, when said subsidiary store is full, blocks of data copied from said master store for the particular point in time,

the controller being arranged, in response to a request to generate a point in time copy at a point in time, to check, when a data block in the master store is about to be changed, whether the data in that data block for the point in time copy has already been copied to one of the subsidiary store or the overflow store, and, if not, to copy that data to the subsidiary store, or if the subsidiary store is full to the overflow store, and to store in the bitmap store data representing the address of the block in the subsidiary or overflow store to which the data was copied.

22. A system according to claim 11, wherein the controller is arranged, in response to a request to restore a master copy from a point in time copy, to identify from the data stored in the bitmap store any data block in the master store that differs from the corresponding data block in the point in time copy, and, for each such identified data block, to determine from the bitmap store the address data of the data block in the subsidiary store and to copy the data block from the determined address in the subsidiary store to the master store to restore the point in time copy as a master copy in the master store.

23. A system according to claim 11, wherein the bitmap store comprises a data bitmap configured to store, for each data block or the master store, data indicating whether or not that data block differs from the corresponding data block of a point in time copy and a copy bitmap configured to store copy data for each data block of the master store such that a bit in the data bitmap indicating that a data block in the master store differs from the corresponding data block of the associated point in time copy would represent in the copy bitmap a copy bit indicating that the data block should be copied, and the controller is arranged, in response to a request to restore a master copy from a point in time copy, to copy the data in the data bitmap to the copy bitmap, to identify any data block associated with a copy bit and, for the or each such identified data block, to determine from the bitmap store the address data of the data block in the subsidiary store, to copy the data block from the determined address in the subsidiary store to the master store, and to reset the copy bit after the data block has bean copied back to the master store.

29. A method according to claim 28, further comprising, in response to a request to generate a point in time copy at a point in time, also checking whether or not each block of data present in the master store at the point in time has been copied to the subsidiary store and copying any of those blocks of data not already in the subsidiary store to the subsidiary store to generate the first point in time copy go that the subsidiary store contains a copy of each block of data in the master store.

30. A method according to claim 28, comprising overwriting a point in time copy in response to a user instruction.

31. A method according to claim 28, comprising allowing a user to select whether or not the first point in time copy is overwritten with the second point in time copy.

32. A method according to claim 29, wherein the bitmap store is configured also to store data indicating whether or not each block of data present in the master store at a particular point in time has been copied to the associated subsidiary store, and the method comprises checking the data in the bitmap store to determine if the blocks of data need to be copied to the associated subsidiary store to generate the point in time copy.

41. A method according to claim 28, further comprising the computer processing system responding to a request to restore a master copy from one of the first and second point in time copies by identifying from the bitmap store for that point in time copy any data block in the master store that differs from the corresponding data block in that point in time copy and copying from the associated subsidiary store to the master store the or each identified data block to restore the point in time copy as a master copy in the master store.

42. A method according to claim 28, wherein the computer processing system accesses a data storage device in which each bitmap store comprises a data bitmap storing, for each data block of the master store, the data indicating whether or not that data block differs from the corresponding data block of the associated point in time copy and a copy bitmap arranged to store copy data for each data block of the master store, the copy bitmap being configured such that a bit in the data bitmap indicating that a data block in the master store differs from the corresponding data block of the associated point in time copy would represent in the copy bitmap a copy bit indicating that the data block should be copied, and the method further comprises the computer processing system responding to a request to restore a master copy from one of the first and second point in time copies by copying the data in the associated data bitmap to the associated copy bitmap, identifying any data block associated with a copy bit and, for the or each identified data block, copying the data block from the associated subsidiary store to the master store and resetting the copy bit after the data block has been copied back to the master store.

43. A method according to claim 29, wherein the computer processing system accesses a data storage device in which each bitmap store comprises a data bitmap storing, for each data block of the master store, the data indicating whether or not that data block differs from the corresponding data block of the associated point in time copy and a copy bitmap configured to store copy data for each data block of the master store, and the method further comprises the computer processing system responding to a request to restore a master copy from one of the first and second point in time copies by setting each bit in the copy bitmap as a copy bit representing that the data block should be copied, copying each data block in the associated subsidiary store to the master store, resetting a copy bit after the corresponding data block has been copied back to the master store and determining that the one of the first and second point in time copies has been restored as a master copy in the master store when all the copy bits in the associated copy bitmap have been reset.

44. A method according to claim 29, wherein the method further comprises the computer processing system, after a point in time copy has been created, updating the data in the bitmap store indicating differences between the master store and each subsidiary store each time a data block in the master store is overwritten after creation of a point in time copy in that subsidiary store and, in response to a request to create a subsequent point in time copy, determining from the data in the bitmap store indicating differences between the master store and the subsidiary store any data block in the master store that differs from the corresponding data block in that subsidiary store and copying each such data block from the master store to that subsidiary store to create the subsequent point in time copy.

51. A method according to claim 29, comprising overwriting a point in time copy in response to a user instruction.

52. A method according to claim 29, comprising allowing a user to select whether or not the first point in time copy is overwritten with the second point in time copy.

56. A computer storage medium storing processor implementable instructions for programming a processor to carry out a method in accordance with claim 28.

60. A signal comprising processor implementable instructions for programming a processor to carry out a method in accordance with claim 28.

13. A system for providing a copy of data at a point in time, comprising:

a first computer processing device;

a second computer processing device;

a data storage device coupled to the first computer processing device and comprising a master store arranged to store blocks of data, a subsidiary store arranged to store point in time copy data comprising blocks of data copied from said master store at a particular point in time and a first bitmap store configured to store data indicating when a data block of the master store differs from a corresponding data block stored in the associated subsidiary store;

a selectable coupling delectably coupling the second computer processing device to the subsidiary store to enable the second computer processing device to access a point in time copy; and

a second bitmap store coupled to the second computer processing device and configured to store data indicating when a data block of a point in time copy accessed by the second computer processing device has been modified, wherein when the second computer processing device is selectably coupled to the subsidiary store, the first computer processing device cannot access the subsidiary store.

28. A method of making a point in time copy using a computer processing system, the method comprising:

accessing a data storage device comprising a master store storing blocks of data, a plurality of subsidiary stores each arranged to store point in time copy data comprising blocks of data copied from said master store at a particular point in time and a plurality of bitmap stores each bitmap store being associated with a corresponding different one of the subsidiary stores and being arranged to store data indicating when a data block of the master store differs from a corresponding data block stored in the associated subsidiary store;

generating a first point in time copy at a first point in time by checking, when a data block in the master store is about to be changed, whether the data in that data block at the first point in time has already been copied to a first one of the subsidiary stores, and, if not, copying that data to the first subsidiary store;

generating a second point in time copy at a second point in time by checking, when a data block in the master store is about to be changed, whether the data in that data block at the second point in time has already been copied to a second one of the subsidiary stores, and, if not, copying that data to the second subsidiary store; and

maintaining data indicating differences between the master store and each point in time copy by causing data to be stored in the associated bitmap store to indicate when a data block in the master store differs from a corresponding data block of the point in time copy.

33. A method of making a point in time copy, the method comprising a computer processing system:

accessing a data storage device comprising a plurality of master stores each storing blocks of data, a plurality of subsidiary stores each associated with a corresponding one of the master stores and each arranged to store point in time copy data comprising blocks of data copied from said master store for a point in time, and a plurality of bitmap stores each bitmap store being associated with a corresponding different one of the master stores and being configured to store data indicating when a data block of the master store differs from a corresponding data block stored in the associated subsidiary store;

generating a point in time copy at a point in time by checking, when a data block in a master store is about to be changed, whether the data in that data block for the associated point in time copy has already been copied to the associated subsidiary store, and, if not, copying that data to the associated subsidiary store; and

maintaining data indicating differences between the master store and the point in time copy by causing data to be stored in the associated bitmap store to indicate when a data block in the master store differs from a corresponding data block of the point in time copy.

34. A method according to claim 33, which comprises also checking whether or not each block of data present in the corresponding master store at the point in time has been copied to the corresponding subsidiary store and copying any of those blocks of data not already in the subsidiary store to that subsidiary store, so that each subsidiary store contains a copy of each block of data in the corresponding master store.

35. A method system according to claim 33, which comprises generating the point in time copies for the different master stores for the same point in time.

36. A method according to claim 33, wherein the plurality of subsidiary stores are replaced by a shared overflow store arranged to store point in time copy data comprising blocks of data copied from each of said master stores at particular points in time, such that each bitmap store is associated with a corresponding different one of the master stores and is configured to store data indicating when a data block of a master store differs from a corresponding data block stored in the overflow store and to which blocks in the overflow store the blocks of data from each of said master stores have been copied, and the method further comprises checking, when a data block in the master store is about to be changed, whether the data in that data block for the point in time copy has already been copied to the overflow store, and, if not, copying that data to the overflow store and storing in the associated bitmap data representing the address of the block in the overflow store to which the data was copied.

37. A system according to claim 36, which comprises also checking whether or not each block of data present in the master store at the point in time has been copied to the overflow store and copying any of those blocks of data not already in the overflow store to the overflow store so that the overflow store contains a copy of each block of data.

39. A method according to claim 38, wherein the data storage device has an overflow store arranged to store, when said subsidiary store is full, blocks of data copied from said master store for the particular point in time and the method comprises checking, when a data block in the master store is about to be changed, whether the data in that data block for the point in time copy has already been copied to one of the subsidiary store or the overflow store, and, if not, copying that data to the subsidiary store, or if the subsidiary store is full to the overflow store, and storing in the bitmap store data representing the address of the block in the subsidiary or overflow store to which the data was copied.

45. A method according to claim 33, the method further comprises the computer processing system responding to a request to restore a master copy from a point in time copy by identifying from the bitmap store for the point in time copy any data block in the corresponding master store that differs from the corresponding data block in the point in time copy and copying any such identified data block from the associated subsidiary store to the corresponding master store to restore a master copy in the master store.

46. A method according to claim 33, wherein the computer processing system accesses a data storage device in which each bitmap store comprises a data bitmap storing, for each data block of the master store, the data indicating whether or not that data block differs from the corresponding data block of the associated point in time copy and a copy bitmap configured to store copy data for each data block of the master store, the copy bitmap being configured such that a bit in the data bitmap indicating that a data block in the master store differs from the corresponding data block of the associated point in time copy would represent in the copy bitmap a copy bit indicating that the data block should be copied, and the method further comprises the computer processing system responding to a request to restore a master copy from a point in time copy by copying the data in the associated data bitmap to the associated copy bitmap, copying from the associated subsidiary store to the master store any data block associated with such a copy bit, and resetting a copy bit after the corresponding data block has been copied back to the master store.

47. A method according to claim 34, wherein the computer processing system accesses a data storage device in which each bitmap store comprises a data bitmap storing, for each data block of the master store, the data indicating whether or not that data block differs from the corresponding data block of the associated subsidiary store and a copy bitmap configured to store copy data for each data block of the master store, and the method further comprises the computer processing system responding to a request to restore a master copy from a point in time copy by setting each bit in the copy bitmap as a copy bit representing that the data block should be copied, copying each data block in the associated subsidiary store to the master store, resetting a copy bit after the corresponding data block has been copied back to the master store and determining that a master copy has been restored in the master store when all the copy bits in the associated copy bitmap have been reset.

48. A method according to claim 34, further comprising the computer processing system, after a point in time copy has been created, updating the data indicating differences between a master store and a corresponding subsidiary store each time a data block in the master store is overwritten after creation of a point in time copy using that subsidiary store and, in response to a request to create a subsequent point in time copy, determining from the data indicating differences between the master store and the subsidiary store any data block in the master store that differs from the corresponding data block in that subsidiary store and copying each such data block from the master store to that subsidiary store to create the subsequent point in time copy.

49. A method according to claim 38, further comprising the computer processing system responding to a request to restore a master copy from a point in time copy by identifying from the data stored in the bitmap store any data block in the master store that differs from the corresponding data block in the point in time copy, and, for each such identified data block, determining from the bitmap store the address data of the data block in the subsidiary store and copying the data block from the determined address in the subsidiary store to the master store to restore the point in time copy as a master copy in the master store.

50. A method according to claim 38, wherein the computer processing system accesses a data storage device in which the bitmap store comprises a data bitmap storing, for each data block of the master store, data indicating whether or not that data block differs from the corresponding data block of a point in time copy and a copy bitmap configured to store copy data for each data block of the master store such that a bit in the data bitmap indicating that a data block in the master store differs from the corresponding data block of the associated point in time copy would represent in the copy bitmap a copy bit indicating that the data block should be copied, and the method further comprises the computer processing system responding to a request to restore a master copy from a point in time copy by copying the data in the data bitmap to the copy bitmap, identifying any data block associated with a copy bit and, for the or each such identified data block, determining from the bitmap store the address data of the data block, copying the data block from the determined address in the subsidiary store to the master store, and resetting the copy bit after the data block has been copied back to the master store.

53. A method system according to claim 34, which comprises generating the point in time copies for the different master stores for the same point in time.

54. A method according to claim 34, wherein the plurality of subsidiary stores are replaced by a shared overflow store arranged to store point in time copy data comprising blocks of data copied from each of said master stores at particular points in time, such that each bitmap store is associated with a corresponding different one of the master stores and is configured to store data indicating when a data block of a master store differs from a corresponding data block stored in the overflow store and to which blocks in the overflow store the blocks of data from each of said master stores have been copied, and the method further comprises checking, when a data block in the master store is about to be changed, whether the data in that data block for the point in time copy has already been copied to the overflow store, and, if not, copying that data to the overflow store and storing in the associated bitmap data representing the address of the block in the overflow store to which the data was copied.

55. A system according to claim 54, which comprises also checking whether or not each block of data present in the master store at the point in time has been copied to the overflow store and copying any of those blocks of data not already in the overflow store to the overflow store so that the overflow store contains a copy of each block of data.

57. A computer storage medium storing processor implementable instructions for programming a processor to carry out a method in accordance with claim 33.

58. A computer storage medium storing processor implementable instructions for programming a processor to carry out a method in accordance with claim 38.

61. A signal comprising processor implementable instructions for programming a processor to carry out a method in accordance with claim 33.

62. A signal comprising processor implementable instructions for programming a processor to carry out a method in accordance with claim 38.

38. A method of making a point in time copy, the method comprising a computer processing system:

accessing a data storage device comprising a master store storing blocks of data, a subsidiary store arranged to store point in time copy data comprising blocks of data copied from said master store for the same particular point in time, wherein the master store is capable of storing more blocks of data than the subsidiary store, and a bitmap store associated with the master store and being configured to store data indicating when a data block of the master store differs from a corresponding data block stored in the subsidiary store and to which blocks in the subsidiary store the blocks of data from said master store have been copied;

generating a point in time copy by checking, when a data block in the master store is about to be changed, whether the data in that data block for the point in time copy has already been copied to the subsidiary store, and, if not, copying that data to the subsidiary store and storing in the bitmap store data representing the address of the block in the subsidiary store to which the data was copied; and

maintaining data indicating differences between the master store and the point in time copy by causing data to be stored in the bitmap store to indicate when a data block in the master store differs from a corresponding data block of the point in time copy.

40. A method of maintaining a point in time copy using a computer system comprising a first computer processing device and a second computer processing device, the method comprising:

the first computer processing device accessing a master store storing blocks of data, storing a point in time copy data comprising blocks of data copied from said master store at a particular point in time in a subsidiary store, and storing data indicating when a data block of the master store differs from a corresponding data block stored in the associated subsidiary store in a first bitmap store; and

the second computer processing device selectably coupling to the subsidiary store in place of the first computer processing device to access the point in time copy, and storing data indicating when a data block of a point in time copy has been modified in a second bitmap store coupled to the second computer processing device and configured to accessed by the second computer processing device.

59. A computer storage medium storing processor implementable instructions for programming a processor to carry out a method in accordance with claim 40.

67. A signal comprising processor implementable instructions for programming a processor to carry out a method in accordance with claim 40.

68. A data storage device, comprising:

a master store arranged to store blocks of data;

a first subsidiary stores arranged to store first point in time copy data comprising blocks of data copied from said master store at a first point in time;

a second subsidiary stores arranged to store second point in time copy data comprising blocks of data copied from said master store at a second point in time; and

a plurality of bitmap stores each bitmap store being associated with a corresponding different one of the subsidiary stores and being configured to store data indicating when a data block of the master store differs from a corresponding data block stored in the associated subsidiary store.

69. A data storage device according to claim 68, wherein the bitmap store is configured also to store data indicating whether or not each block of data present in the master store at a particular point in time has been copied to the associated subsidiary store.