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VOLUME OR VIRTUAL MACHINE LEVEL BACKUP AND GENERATING PLACEHOLDERS FOR VIRTUAL MACHINE FILES

  • US 20180075166A1
  • Filed: 08/23/2017
  • Published: 03/15/2018
  • Est. Priority Date: 07/16/2014
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A method of removing files associated with a virtual machine (VM), the method comprising:

  • creating a backup copy of data associated with a VM on one or more secondary storage devices, wherein the data associated with the VM resides on a primary storage device and comprises a plurality of files associated with the VM, and wherein the backup copy comprises corresponding secondary copies of the plurality of files;

    generating first metadata associated with the backup copy, wherein the first metadata indicates for each respective file included in the backup copy, when the respective file was last modified or accessed;

    identifying, based on the first metadata associated with the backup copy and without accessing the data associated with the VM residing on the primary storage device, a set of candidate files from the plurality of files that are eligible to be removed from the primary storage device; and

    for each candidate file in the set of candidate files identified based on the first metadata associated with the backup copy and without accessing the data associated with the VM residing on the primary storage device;

    determining, based on second metadata associated with the candidate file stored on the primary storage device, whether the candidate file has changed since a first time at which the backup copy including the candidate file was created;

    in response to determining that the candidate file has not changed since the first time at which the backup copy including the candidate file was created, removing the candidate file from the primary storage device; and

    adding a file placeholder for the removed candidate file on the primary storage device.

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