SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATICALLY RESTORING HARD DRIVES ON FAILURE

• US 20070220308A1
• Filed: 12/06/2006
• Published: 09/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Computer Associates Think Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Computer Associates Think Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Choudhury, Souvik, Yeung, Cho
• Granted Patent: US 7,650,531 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1417 Boot up procedures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1458 Management of the backup or restore process
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques

Abstract

Systems and method for automatically restoring a hard drive after failure are provided. Disk recovery data may be collected and stored from an operational, online hard drive. When the hard drive subsequently fails, a client-specific recovery media may be generated, which may include a lightweight recovery environment. Restoration tasks may be completed automatically, thereby reducing an amount of user effort and/or expertise needed for restoration. Further, restoration tasks may be performed from a lightweight, client-specific disk recovery module, thereby eliminating processing overhead, such as that attributable to installing set up programs, rebooting a system during set up, or other overhead.

Claims

1. A method for restoring a hard drive, the method comprising:

collecting configuration information from an operational hard drive coupled to a device, the device having an associated boot mechanism; and

creating a computer-readable recovery media having a bootable recovery environment recorded thereon, the recovery environment operable upon failure of the operational hard drive to configure a restoration hard drive coupled to the device using the collected configuration information,

wherein the recovery environment boots the device without using the boot mechanism associated with the device, and

wherein the recovery environment runs on the device without using any hard drive associated with the device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration information includes host level settings, the host level settings including at least one of a host name, an operating system version, or a total number of hard drives associated with the device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration information includes disk level settings, the disk level settings including at least one of a disk adapter name, a number of bytes per sector, a number of sectors per track, a number of tracks per cylinder, a total number of cylinders, a total disk size, a disk identification number, a disk signature, a vendor name, a dynamic disk flag, a cluster disk flag, a total amount of free space, or a total number of partitions associated with the operational hard drive.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration information includes partition level settings, the partition level settings including at least one of a boot indicator, a partition identification number, a starting offset, a total length, or a partition type associated with a partition of the operational hard drive.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration information includes file system level settings, the file system level settings including at least one of a drive letter, a file system name, a total amount of space, a total amount of free space, a globally unique identifier for a volume, a label for the volume, a file system attribute, or a mount point associated with a file system of the operational hard drive.

6. The method of claim 1, the recovery environment further operable to wipe a master boot record from the restoration hard drive and write a disk marker to the restoration hard drive.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein writing the disk marker includes writing 0x55AA to a final two bytes of a first sector of the restoration hard drive.

8. The method of claim 1, the recovery environment further operable to write a master boot record to the restoration hard drive when the restoration hard drive is a boot drive.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the operational hard drive and/or the restoration hard drive are dynamic disks, the recovery environment further operable to:

identify dynamic disk data associated with the operational hard drive using the collected configuration information, the identified dynamic disk data associated with a disk region;

write the identified dynamic disk data to the disk region of the restoration hard drive; and

set a flag associated with the restoration hard drive to indicate that the restoration hard drive is a dynamic disk.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the disk region includes a sixth sector and/or a final megabyte of a hard drive.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the operational hard drive and/or the restoration hard drive are basic disks, the recovery environment further operable to:

identify at least one partition associated with the operational hard drive using the collected configuration information; and

create the at least one partition on the restoration hard drive.

12. The method of claim 1, the recovery environment further operable to:

create a handle to an operating system mount point manager, wherein the handle is used to notify the mount point manager of new partitions associated with the restoration hard drive;

format the new partitions associated with the restoration hard drive using the collected configuration information; and

restore volume mount points associated with the restoration hard drive using the collected configuration information.

13. A method for restoring a hard drive, the method comprising:

collecting configuration information from an operational hard drive; and

creating a computer-readable recovery media having a bootable recovery environment recorded thereon, the recovery environment operable to transfer the collected configuration information to a restoration hard drive coupled to a device, the device having an associated boot mechanism,

wherein the recovery environment boots the device without using the boot mechanism associated with the device, and

wherein the recovery environment runs on the device without using any hard drive associated with the device.

14. A system for restoring a hard drive, the system comprising:

a client device having an associated boot mechanism and at least one operational hard drive coupled thereto;

at least one data repository storing configuration information collected from the operational hard drive; and

at least one media creation device configured to create a computer-readable recovery media having a bootable recovery environment recorded thereon upon failure of the operational hard drive, the recovery environment operable to configure a restoration hard drive coupled to the client device using the stored configuration information,

wherein the recovery environment boots the device without using the boot mechanism associated with the device, and

wherein the recovery environment runs on the device without using any hard drive associated with the device.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the configuration information includes host level settings, the host level settings including at least one of a host name, an operating system version, or a total number of hard drives associated with the client device.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the configuration information includes disk level settings, the disk level settings including at least one of a disk adapter name, a number of bytes per sector, a number of sectors per track, a number of tracks per cylinder, a total number of cylinders, a total disk size, a disk identification number, a disk signature, a vendor name, a dynamic disk flag, a cluster disk flag, a total amount of free space, or a total number of partitions associated with the operational hard drive.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the configuration information includes partition level settings, the partition level settings including at least one of a boot indicator, a partition identification number, a starting offset, a total length, or a partition type associated with a partition of the operational hard drive.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the configuration information includes file system level settings, the file system level settings including at least one of a drive letter, a file system name, a total amount of space, a total amount of free space, a globally unique identifier for a volume, a label for the volume, a file system attribute, or a mount point associated with a file system of the operational hard drive.

19. The system of claim 14, the recovery environment further operable to wipe a master boot record from the restoration hard drive and write a disk marker to the restoration hard drive.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein writing the disk marker includes writing 0x55AA to a final two bytes of a first sector of the restoration hard drive.

21. The system of claim 14, the recovery environment further operable to write a master boot record to the restoration hard drive when the restoration hard drive is a boot drive.

22. The system of claim 14, wherein the operational hard drive and/or the restoration hard drive are dynamic disks, the recovery environment further operable to:

identify dynamic disk data associated with the operational hard drive using the collected configuration information, the identified dynamic disk data associated with a disk region;

write the identified dynamic disk data to the disk region of the restoration hard drive; and

set a flag associated with the restoration hard drive to indicate that the restoration hard drive is a dynamic disk.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the disk region includes a sixth sector and/or a final megabyte of a hard drive.

24. The system of claim 14, wherein the operational hard drive and/or the restoration hard drive are basic disks, the recovery environment further operable to:

identify at least one partition associated with the operational hard drive using the collected configuration information; and

create the at least one partition on the restoration hard drive.

25. The system of claim 14, the recovery environment further operable to:

create a handle to an operating system mount point manager, wherein the handle is used to notify the mount point manager of new partitions associated with the restoration hard drive;

format the new partitions associated with the restoration hard drive using the collected configuration information; and

restore volume mount points associated with the restoration hard drive using the collected configuration information.

26. A system for restoring a hard drive, the system comprising:

at least one data repository storing configuration information collected from an operational hard drive;

a client device having an associated boot mechanism and a restoration hard drive coupled thereto; and

at least one media creation device configured to create a computer-readable recovery media having a bootable recovery environment recorded thereon, the recovery environment operable to transfer the stored configuration information to the restoration hard drive,

wherein the recovery environment boots the device without using the boot mechanism associated with the device, and

wherein the recovery environment runs on the device without using any hard drive associated with the device.

27. A computer-readable medium for restoring an operational hard drive associated with a device, the device having an associated boot mechanism, the computer-readable medium having a bootable recovery environment recorded thereon, the recovery environment operable upon failure of the operational hard drive to:

boot the device, wherein the recovery environment boots the device without using the boot mechanism associated with the device;

retrieve configuration information associated with the operational hard drive, the configuration information collected during an operational state of the operational hard drive; and

configure a restoration hard drive coupled to the device using the retrieved configuration information, wherein the recovery environment runs on the device without using any hard drive associated with the device.

28. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein the configuration information includes host level settings, the host level settings including at least one of a host name, an operating system version, or a total number of hard drives associated with the device.

29. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein the configuration information includes disk level settings, the disk level settings including at least one of a disk adapter name, a number of bytes per sector, a number of sectors per track, a number of tracks per cylinder, a total number of cylinders, a total disk size, a disk identification number, a disk signature, a vendor name, a dynamic disk flag, a cluster disk flag, a total amount of free space, or a total number of partitions associated with the operational hard drive.

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein the configuration information includes partition level settings, the partition level settings including at least one of a boot indicator, a partition identification number, a starting offset, a total length, or a partition type associated with a partition of the operational hard drive.

31. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein the configuration information includes file system level settings, the file system level settings including at least one of a drive letter, a file system name, a total amount of space, a total amount of free space, a globally unique identifier for a volume, a label for the volume, a file system attribute, or a mount point associated with a file system of the operational hard drive.

32. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, the recovery environment further operable to:

wipe a master boot record from the restoration hard drive; and

write a disk marker to the restoration hard drive.

33. The computer-readable medium of claim 32, wherein writing the disk marker includes writing 0x55AA to a final two bytes of a first sector of the restoration hard drive.

34. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, the recovery environment further operable to write a master boot record to the restoration hard drive when the restoration hard drive is a boot drive.

35. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein the operational hard drive and/or the restoration hard drive are dynamic disks, the recovery environment further operable to:

identify dynamic disk data associated with the operational hard drive using the collected configuration information, the identified dynamic disk data associated with a disk region;

write the identified dynamic disk data to the disk region of the restoration hard drive; and

set a flag associated with the restoration hard drive to indicate that the restoration hard drive is a dynamic disk.

36. The computer-readable medium of claim 35, wherein the disk region includes a sixth sector and/or a final megabyte of a hard drive.

37. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein the operational hard drive and/or the restoration hard drive are basic disks, the recovery environment further operable to:

identify at least one partition associated with the operational hard drive using the collected configuration information; and

create the at least one partition on the restoration hard drive.

38. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, the recovery environment further operable to:

create a handle to an operating system mount point manager, wherein the handle is used to notify the mount point manager of new partitions associated with the restoration hard drive;

format the new partitions associated with the restoration hard drive using the collected configuration information; and

restore volume mount points associated with the restoration hard drive using the collected configuration information.

39. A computer-readable medium for restoring a hard drive, the computer-readable medium having a bootable recovery environment recorded thereon, the recovery environment operable to:

boot a device, the device having an associated boot mechanism and a restoration hard drive coupled thereto, wherein the recovery environment boots the device without using the boot mechanism associated with the device;

retrieve configuration information associated with an operational hard drive, the configuration information collected during an operational state of the operational hard drive; and

configure the restoration hard drive using the retrieved configuration information, wherein the recovery environment runs on the device without using any hard drive associated with the device.