STORAGE, ORGANIZATION AND SEARCHING OF DATA STORED ON A STORAGE MEDIUM

• US 20080307016A1
• Filed: 06/08/2007
• Published: 12/11/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Arrouye, Yan, Hornkvist, JOHN
• Granted Patent: US 8,271,445 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1448 Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses for storing, organizing and searching files stored in a storage device. Backup files may be stored in snapshot-dependent and/or snapshot-independent paths. The backup files may be stored with additional attributes that can be used for searching and/or indexing purposes.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

storing a snapshot of files, wherein the snapshot files have a corresponding path name to indicate a characteristic of the snapshot;

creating a snapshot-independent path name for at least a subset of the snapshot files;

indexing snapshot files indicated by the snapshot-independent path names;

associating attributes with the snapshot files indicated by the snapshot-independent path names to indicate one or more of a date the corresponding file was created and a date the corresponding file was last modified; and

generating search results within the snapshot files utilizing the snapshot-independent path names and the attributes associated with the snapshot files.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the characteristic comprises a date of the snapshot.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the snapshot comprises a copy of all files that have changed or have been created since a previous snapshot.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the files are stored on a first storage medium and the snapshots of the files are stored on a second storage medium.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein creating a snapshot-independent path name for at least a subset of the snapshot files comprises:

determining one or more portions of a path name for a file that correspond to the characteristic;

generating a new path name for the file without the one or more portions of the path name that correspond to the characteristic;

storing the file using the new path name.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the new path name includes at least a portion of a corresponding path name for a corresponding file stored on a first storage medium.

7. An article comprising a computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed cause one or more processors to:

store a snapshot of files, wherein the snapshot files have a corresponding path name to indicate a characteristic of the snapshot;

create a snapshot-independent path name for at least a subset of the snapshot files;

index snapshot files indicated by the snapshot-independent path names;

associate attributes with the snapshot files indicated by the snapshot-independent path names to indicate one or more of a date the corresponding file was created and a date the corresponding file was last modified; and

generate search results within the snapshot files utilizing the snapshot-independent path names and the attributes associated with the snapshot files.

8. The article of claim 7 wherein the characteristic comprises a date of the snapshot.

9. The article of claim 7 wherein the snapshot comprises a copy of all files that have changed or have been created since a previous snapshot.

10. The article of claim 7 wherein the files are stored on a first storage medium and the snapshots of the files are stored on a second storage medium.

11. The article of claim 7 wherein the instructions that cause the one or more processors to create a snapshot-independent path name for at least a subset of the snapshot files comprise instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to:

determine one or more portions of a path name for a file that correspond to the characteristic;

generate a new path name for the file without the one or more portions of the path name that correspond to the characteristic;

store the file using the new path name.

12. The article of claim 11 wherein the new path name includes at least a portion of a corresponding path name for a corresponding file stored on a first storage medium.

13. An apparatus comprising:

means for storing a snapshot of files, wherein the snapshot files have a corresponding path name to indicate a characteristic of the snapshot;

means for creating a snapshot-independent path name for at least a subset of the snapshot files;

means for indexing snapshot files indicated by the snapshot-independent path names;

means for associating attributes with the snapshot files indicated by the snapshot-independent path names to indicate one or more of a date the corresponding file was created and a date the corresponding file was last modified; and

means for generating search results within the snapshot files utilizing the snapshot-independent path names and the attributes associated with the snapshot files.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the means for creating a snapshot-independent path name for at least a subset of the snapshot files comprise:

means for determining one or more portions of a path name for a file that correspond to the characteristic;

means for generating a new path name for the file without the one or more portions of the path name that correspond to the characteristic;

means for storing the file using the new path name.

15. A system comprising:

one or more input/output devices;

a processor coupled to receive input from at least one of the input/output devices;

a backup agent coupled to communicate with the processor, the backup agent to cause snapshot files to be stored, wherein the snapshot files have a corresponding path name to indicate a characteristic of the snapshot, to create a snapshot-independent path name for at least a subset of the snapshot files, to index snapshot files indicated by the snapshot-independent path names, to associate attributes with the snapshot files indicated by the snapshot-independent path names to indicate one or more of a date the corresponding file was created and a date the corresponding file was last modified.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the backup agent is further configured to generate search results within the snapshot files utilizing the snapshot-independent path names and the attributes associated with the snapshot files.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the backup agent comprises one or more software routines executed by the processor to cause the search results to be output to at least one of the input/output devices.

18. The system of claim 16 wherein the backup agent comprises one or more circuits coupled with the processor to cause the search results to be output to at least one of the input/output devices.

19. The system of claim 16 wherein the backup agent comprises a combination of one or more software routines executed by the processor and one or more circuits coupled with the processor to cause the search results to be output to at least one of the input/output devices.

20. The system of claim 15 wherein the backup agent comprises a snapshot organization module to cause the snapshot files to be stored, generate the snapshot-independent path names, perform the indexing, and to associate the attributes with the snapshot files.

21. The system of claim 16 wherein the backup agent comprises a snapshot search module to generate the search results within the snapshot files utilizing the snapshot-independent path names.

22. The system of claim 15 wherein the backup agent comprises a file attribute search module to generate the search results within the snapshot files utilizing the attributes associated with the snapshot files.