System and method for splitting an image across multiple computer readable media

• US 20030233379A1
• Filed: 06/17/2002
• Published: 12/18/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Cohen, Jason, Jhanwar, Raj, Burkhardt, Ryan
• Granted Patent: US 7,260,738 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/10 File systems; File servers

Abstract

A software tool and method in which a source image is split into and spans across two or more image pieces having a data structure which fits onto a computer readable medium having an available storage capacity which is smaller than the size of the source image. Also, software tool and method which combines two or more image pieces of a source image on a destination medium into a re-combined image having a data structure corresponding to the source image.

Claims

1. A software tool which splits a source image into two or more image pieces, each of which fits onto a computer readable medium having an available storage capacity which is smaller than the size of the source image, said software tool comprising:

a selecting tool responsive to user input for designating which files of the source image to be included in each image piece;

a splitting tool which groups the designated files into their corresponding image piece; and

a chaining tool which labels each of the image pieces.

2. The tool of claim 1 wherein each of the image pieces is adapted to be independent of each other and comprises a restorable portion of the source image so that the image piece can be modified, updated or restored without reassembly of the image pieces.

3. The tool of claim 1 wherein each of the image pieces is adapted to include a plurality of files, each of which can be opened or mounted so that each of the plurality of files within each image piece can be added, removed or extracted from the image piece independent of any changes to the other image pieces of the source image and without reassembly of the image pieces.

4. The tool of claim 1 wherein one or more of the image pieces includes a bootable combination of files.

5. The tool of claim 4 wherein the bootable combination of files are a unique portion of one of the image pieces so that the files do not take up duplicate space on the computer readable medium on which the image piece is stored.

6. The tool of claim 1 wherein each of the image pieces includes all files required by a particular application so that the one image piece is capable of initiating operation of the particular application.

7. The tool of claim 6 wherein the particular application is a setup engine so that the one image piece is capable of initiating setup.

8. The tool of claim 1 wherein related component resources are included on a particular one of the image pieces so that the source image can be restored on a computer with a minimum amount of changing between the computer readable media storing the image pieces of the source image.

9. The tool of claim 1 wherein the chaining tool creates a unique header for each of the image pieces and a metadata file for each of the image pieces.

10. The tool of claim 1 wherein undesignated files of the image are stored as part of any of the image pieces until a limit for the size of the computer readable medium of the image piece is reached.

11. The tool of claim 1 wherein the chaining tool creates a unique signature for each of the image pieces.

12. The tool of claim 1 wherein each of the image pieces is part of a recovery media and wherein each of the image pieces includes a minimal bootable operating system.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein one or more computer readable media have computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 12.

13. A method of splitting a source image into two or more image pieces, each of which fits onto a computer readable medium having an available storage capacity which is smaller than the size of the source image, said method comprising:

designating which files of the source image to be included in each image piece; and

grouping the designated files into their corresponding image pieces.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising labeling the image pieces, including:

writing a header for the image piece wherein the header corresponds to the designated files;

writing a metadata for the image piece wherein the metadata corresponds to the designated files;

copying priority data which corresponds to the designated files from the source image to the image piece;

copying non-priority data from the source image to the image piece; and

adding a signature to the image piece which signature corresponds to the contents of the image piece.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein said grouping comprises creating the image piece by copying the files from the source image to the computer readable medium of the image piece.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein said designating comprises specifying the size of each of the image pieces and specifying which files of the source image to be included in each of the image pieces.

18. A method of creating from a source image an image piece which fits onto a computer readable medium having an available storage capacity which is smaller than the size of the source image, said method comprising:

specifying the size of the image piece;

designating which files of the source image to be included in the image piece;

creating the image piece from the designated files;

writing a header for the image piece wherein the header corresponds to the designated files;

writing a metadata for the image piece wherein the metadata corresponds to the designated files;

copying priority data which corresponds to the designated files from the source image to the image piece;

copying non-priority data from the source image to the image piece; and

adding a signature to the image piece which signature corresponds to the contents of the image piece.

19. A computer readable medium having stored thereon a data structure representing a image piece of a source image comprising:

selected files of the source image;

a header identifying the image piece as a portion of the source image;

a metadata identifying the files of the image piece;

priority data from the source image corresponding to the selected files;

non-priority data from the source image;

a signature corresponding to the image piece.

20. The medium of claim 19 wherein the selected files comprise a restorable portion of the source image so that the image piece can be restored from the source image.

21. The medium of claim 19 wherein the selected files include a plurality of files, each of which can be opened or mounted so that each of the plurality of files within the image piece can be modified, updated or restored independent of any changes to another image pieces of the source image and without reassembly of the image pieces.

22. The medium of claim 19 wherein the selected files include a bootable combination of files.

23. The medium of claim 19 wherein each of the image pieces includes all files required by a particular application so that the one image piece is capable of initiating operation of the particular application.

24. The medium of claim 23 wherein the particular application is a setup engine so that the one image piece is capable of initiating setup.

31. The method of claim 27, wherein one or more computer readable media have computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 24.

25. A software tool having computer executable components for combining two or more image pieces of a source image into a re-combined image corresponding to the source image, wherein each of the image pieces is on a computer readable medium having an available storage capacity which is smaller than the size of the source image, and wherein the re-combined image is stored on a destination computer readable medium, said software tool comprising:

a copying tool responsive to user input for copying files of the image pieces onto the destination computer readable medium;

a combining tool which combines the copied files into the re-combined image on the destination computer readable medium; and

a chaining tool which labels the re-combined image on the destination computer readable medium.

26. The tool of claim 25 wherein related component resources are included on the same image piece so that the source image can be re-combined on the destination computer readable medium with a minimum amount of changing between the computer readable media storing the image pieces of the source image.

27. A method of combining two or more image pieces of a source image into a re-combined image corresponding to the source image, wherein each of the image pieces is stored on a computer readable medium having an available storage capacity which is smaller than the size of the source image, and wherein the re-combined image is on a destination computer readable medium, said method comprising:

copying files of the image pieces onto the destination computer readable medium in response to user input;

combining the copied files into the re-combined image on the destination computer readable medium; and

labeling the re-combined image on the destination computer readable medium.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein said labeling comprises:

writing a header for the recombined image from each image piece;

writing a metadata for the recombined image for each image piece;

copying priority data from the image pieces to the recombined image;

copying non-priority data from the image piece to the recombined image; and

adding a signature to the recombined image which signature corresponds to the contents of the recombined image.

29. The method of claim 27 wherein said grouping comprises creating the image piece by imaging the files from the source image to the computer readable medium of the image piece.

30. The method of claim 27 wherein said designating comprises specifying the size of each of the image pieces and specifying which files of the source image is included in each of the image pieces.

33. The method of claim 32 wherein one or more computer readable media have computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 28

32. A method of combining two or more image pieces of a source image into a re-combined image corresponding to the source image, wherein each of the image pieces is on a computer readable medium having an available storage capacity which is smaller than the size of the source image, and wherein the re-combined image is on a destination computer readable medium, said method comprising:

imaging the re-combined image from the image pieces;

writing a header for the re-combined image wherein the header corresponds to the files of the re-combined image;

writing a metadata for the image piece wherein the metadata corresponds to the files of the re-combined image;

adding a signature to the re-combined image which signature corresponds to the contents of the re-combined image.

34. A computer readable medium having stored thereon a data structure representing a re-combined image formed by combining two or more image pieces of a source image, wherein the re-combined image corresponds to the source image, wherein each of the image pieces is stored on a computer readable medium having an available storage capacity which is smaller than the size of the source image, and wherein the re-combined image is on a destination computer readable medium, said data structure comprising:

a header identifying the re-combined image;

a metadata identifying the files of the re-combined image;

priority data from the image pieces;

non-priority data from the image pieces;

a signature corresponding to the re-combined image.

35. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a first image piece of a software image which first image piece can be combined with one or more other image pieces of the software image into a combined image which corresponds to the software image, comprising:

an image of descriptive data of the software image; and

an image of file data of the software image.

36. A combined image including a first image piece of a software image and including a second image piece of the software image, said combined image comprising:

a header of the combined image;

a first metadata of the first image piece;

a second metadata of the second image piece;

a first file data of file data of the first image piece;

a second file data of file data of the second image piece; and

a signature of the combined image.