Apparatus and method for restoring data

• US 20050021497A1
• Filed: 06/09/2004
• Published: 01/27/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alpine Electronics Incorporated (Alps Alpine Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Alpine Electronics Incorporated (Alps Alpine Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Kohno, Shigeru
• Granted Patent: US 7,555,501 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/10 File systems; File servers
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability

Abstract

An apparatus and method for restoring data is provided for easily restoring a file that is carelessly deleted from a hard disk. A microcomputer 1 is constructed as follows. An original file and a file for restoration whose extension is different from that of the original file are stored in a HDD unit 3. When it is determined that the original file is not capable of being reproduced, the filename or the extension of the file for restoration may be renamed, thereby restoring the original file. Even when the original file is carelessly deleted or not capable of being reproduced due to its corruption, the original file can be automatically restored using the file for restoration.

Claims

1. An apparatus for restoring data, comprising:

a recording medium for storing an original file and a file for restoration, the file for restoration differing from the original file in at least one of a filename and an extension;

a reproducibility determining section for determining whether the original file is capable of being reproduced; and

a file restoring processor that, when the reproducibility determining section determines that the original file is not capable of being reproduced, restores the original file to a reproducible state by modifying at least one of the filename and the extension of the file for restoration.

2. The apparatus for restoring data according to claim 1, wherein, when the reproducibility determining section determines that the original file is not capable of being reproduced, the file restoring processor copies the file for restoration, and modifies at least one of the filename and the extension of the copied file, thereby restoring the original file.

3. The apparatus for restoring data according to claim 1, wherein the file restoring processor includes a display section for informing a user that the reproduction of the original file is impossible when the reproducibility determining section determines that the original file is not capable of being reproduced, and the file restoring processor modifies at least one of the filename and the extension of the file for restoration when an instruction to restore the file is received from the user in response to the information provided by the display section.

4. The apparatus for restoring data according to claim 1, wherein, when reproduction of the original file is instructed, the reproducibility determining section determines whether the original file instructed to be reproduced is capable of being reproduced.

5. The apparatus for restoring data according to claim 4, wherein, when the reproducibility determining section determines that the original file is not capable of being reproduced, the file restoring processor copies the file for restoration, and modifies at least one of the filename and the extension of the copied file, thereby restoring the original file.

6. The apparatus for restoring data according to claim 4, wherein the file restoring processor includes a display section for informing a user that the reproduction of the original file is impossible when the reproducibility determining section determines that the original file is not capable of being reproduced, and the file restoring processor modifies at least one of the filename and the extension of the file for restoration when an instruction to restore the file is received from the user in response to the information provided by the display section.

7. The apparatus for restoring data according to claim 1, wherein the recording medium for storing the file for restoration is a hard disk.

8. A method for restoring data, comprising:

determining whether an original file is capable of being reproduced when the original file is intended to be reproduced from a recording medium which stores therein the original file and a file for restoration, the file for restoration differing from the original file in at least one of a filename and an extension; and

restoring the original file to a reproducible state by modifying at least one of the filename and the extension of the file for restoration so as to conform to the original file when it is determined that the original file is not capable of being reproduced.

9. The method for restoring data according to claim 8, the method comprising, when it is determined that the original file is not capable of being reproduced, copying the file for restoration and modifying at least one of the filename and the extension of the copied file, thereby restoring the original file.

10. The method for restoring data according to claim 8, the method comprising informing a user that the reproduction of the original file is impossible when it is determined that the original file is not capable of being reproduced, modifying at least one of the filename and the extension of the file for restoration when an instruction to restore the file is received from the user.

11. The method for restoring data according to claim 8, the method comprising determining whether the original file is capable of being reproduced when reproduction of the original file is instructed.

12. The method for restoring data according to claim 11, the method comprising, when it is determined that the original file is not capable of being reproduced, copying the file for restoration and modifying at least one of the filename and the extension of the copied file thereby restoring the original file.

13. The method for restoring data according to claim 11, the method comprising informing a user that the reproduction of the original file is impossible when it is determined that the original file is not capable of being reproduced, and modifying at least one of the filename and the extension of the file for restoration when an instruction to restore the file is received from the user.

14. The method for restoring data according to claim 8, wherein the recording medium for storing the file for restoration is a hard disk.

15. An apparatus for restoring data, comprising:

an internal recording medium for storing an original file and a restoration file, the restoration file differing from the original file in at least one of a filename, an extension, and a predetermined attribute;

an integrity unit for determining if the integrity of the original file is intact; and

a processor that utilizes the restoration file to restore the integrity of the original file when the integrity unit determines that the integrity of the original file is not intact.

16. The apparatus for restoring data of claim 15, wherein at least one of the filename, the extension, and the predetermined attribute of the restoration file is modified to restore the original file.

17. The apparatus for restoring data of claim 15, wherein the integrity unit determines that the integrity of the original file is not intact if any portion of the original file has been deleted or corrupted.

18. The apparatus for restoring data of claim 17, wherein the processor generates a message on a display indicating that the integrity of the original file is not intact.

19. The apparatus for restoring data of claim 18, wherein the apparatus receives an instruction to restore the original file and the processor restores the original file by copying the restoration file.

20. The apparatus for restoring data of claim 15, wherein the restoration file is protected from inadvertent deletion by the user.