Combined computer disaster recovery and migration tool for effective disaster recovery as well as the backup and migration of user- and system-specific information

• US 20060036658A1
• Filed: 08/13/2004
• Published: 02/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/13/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Henrickson, David L.
• Granted Patent: US 8,224,784 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1458 Management of the backup or restore process
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques

Abstract

Computer tools and methods novelly combine periodic backup and restore features with migration features to transfer the components of a failed system to a new system, which new system may be dissimilar to the old system. As well as backing up and transferring critical data files during the disaster recovery operation, the present invention also transfers, inter alia, applications, user states, hardware settings, software settings, user preferences and other user settings, menus, and directories. In another aspect of the present invention, a network of shared end-user computers periodically backs up each individual end-user computer to a central instrumentality, in a novel manner to reduce storage and time requirements. That is, redundancies for the end-user computer backup files are eliminated or greatly reduced by only making reference to but not storing components that are generic to the system, and further for each previously stored component, only storing differential or incremental information, unless predefined conditions are met. In yet another aspect of the present invention, remote end-users upload, via a wide area network such as the Internet, backup information to a central location. In the case of end-user computer failure, backup and migration information can be delivered to a new machine by means such as mailing a storage medium (e.g., compact disc), and downloading from the Internet.

Claims

1. An information backup and transfer method, said method comprising:

a) periodically backing up and storing components of a source computer; and

b) in the case of a source computer failure, transferring stored components to a target computer;

c) wherein said source computer and said target computer are dissimilar; and

d) wherein said stored components comprise, as well as critical data files, native information pertaining to said source computer.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the dissimilarity of said source and target computers comprises hardware.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the dissimilarity of said source and target computers comprises operating systems.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said stored components comprise menus.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

e) predicting whether a stored component will cause instability or unacceptably hinder the operation of said target computer; and

f) not transferring to said target computer, those stored components which are predicted to cause instability or unacceptably hinder the operation of said target computer.

4. An information backup and transfer method, said method comprising:

a) periodically backing up and storing components of a source computer, said components corresponding to a user state; and

b) in the case of a source computer failure, transferring stored components to a target computer.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

classifying each component to be backed up into one of a plurality of backup classes corresponding an associated frequency of change of said component; and

backing up the components in each backup class at predetermined backup intervals established for each particular backup class.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein stored components comprise applications.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein stored components comprise user-specific settings.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein stored components comprise hardware-specific settings.

10. The method of claim 4, wherein stored components comprise files.

11. The method of claim 4, wherein stored components comprise directories.

13. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

prior to element a), monitoring said components; and

performing element a) consistent with knowledge gained from monitoring said components.

14. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

performing element a) consistent with stored rules.

15. The method of claim 4, wherein said components comprise files, and further comprising:

prior to element a), monitoring said files; and

performing element a) consistent with knowledge gained from monitoring said files or consistent with stored rules.

16. An information backup and transfer system, said system comprising:

a) a source computer adapted to have its components periodically backed up and stored;

b) a target computer adapted to have transferred to it, stored components from said source computer in the case of a source computer failure; and

c) a tool for facilitating the backup, storage and transfer of said stored components;

d) wherein said source computer and said target computer are dissimilar in either hardware, or operating systems; and

e) wherein said stored components comprise, as well as critical data files, native information pertaining to said source computer.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the dissimilarity of said source and target computers comprises hardware.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the dissimilarity of said source and target computers comprises operating systems.

19. The system of claim 16, sans element d), wherein stored components comprise indicia corresponding to a user state.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising:

classifying each component to be backed up into one of a plurality of backup classes corresponding an associated frequency of change of said component; and

backing up the components in each backup class at predetermined backup intervals established for each particular backup class.

21. The system of claim 16, wherein said tool is adapted to predict whether a stored component will cause instability or unacceptably hinder the operation of said target computer, and said tool is further adapted to transfer to said target computer, only those stored components which are not predicted to cause instability, or which are not predicted to unacceptably hinder the operation of said target computer.