System and method for long-term administration of archival storage
First Claim
1. A method directed to the long term administration of archive storage in a computer system, wherein at least portions of files are sent to archive storage in at least one session and are stored at different locations in the archive storage and wherein the system produces a index that describes the contents of each session, the method comprising the steps of:
- searching an index for each of said at least one session to identify the locations of all portions of a particular file;
identifying the location of the most recent version of all portions of said file; and
copying the most recent version of all portions of said file in the proper order to a location in archive storage.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Many archive and backup systems write multiple copies of at least portions of a single file to various archive or backup storage sessions. Such is the case where an initial backup occurs followed by incremental backups at various times after the initial baseline backup. The present invention simplifies the long-term administration of remote or archive storage by collecting multiple portions of the same files stored in different backup or archive storage sessions at different times into a single updated version of the file. This updated version may then be placed on backup or archive storage. The present invention identifies the various backup or archive sessions containing portions of the file of interest. It then retrieves these various portions and determines which of the portions are the most current version. The most current version of all portions are then assembled and coalesced into a single updated version. The system works with remote or local backup or archive storage and reduces the time necessary to retrieve information from a backup.
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Citations
36 Claims
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1. A method directed to the long term administration of archive storage in a computer system, wherein at least portions of files are sent to archive storage in at least one session and are stored at different locations in the archive storage and wherein the system produces a index that describes the contents of each session, the method comprising the steps of:
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searching an index for each of said at least one session to identify the locations of all portions of a particular file; identifying the location of the most recent version of all portions of said file; and copying the most recent version of all portions of said file in the proper order to a location in archive storage. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method directed to the long term administration of archive storage in a computer system comprising the steps of:
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initiating a plurality of storage sessions wherein at least portions of files are sent to archive storage; storing an index for each of said plurality of storage sessions, each index comprising at least information that identifies the files transferred to said archive storage in its associated storage session; searching the index for each of said plurality of storage sessions to identify the locations of all portions of a particular file; identifying the location of the most recent version of all portions of said file; and copying the most recent version of all portions of said file in the proper order to a location in said archive storage. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A system for the long term administration of archive storage comprising:
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archive storage means for storing a plurality of archive storage sessions, each of said plurality of storage sessions comprising at least a portion of at least one file; means for storing an index for each of said plurality of archive storage sessions, each index comprising at least information that identifies the files transferred to said storage means during an associated storage session; means for determining the most recent version of all portions of a file; and means for coalescing the most recent version of all portions of a file in the proper order in order to create a current version. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A computer readable media having computer executable instructions comprising:
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means for identifying which of a plurality of archive storage sessions contain at least a portion of a particular file; means for determining the most recent version of at least a portion of said particular file from between two copies of said at least a portion of said particular file; and means for coalescing the most recent version identified by said means for determining into a single copy of said particular file that contains the most recent version of all portions of said file. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A computer readable media having computer executable instructions comprising:
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means for identifying which of a plurality of archive storage sessions stored on remote archive storage means contain at least a portion of a particular file; means for determining the most recent version of all portions of said particular file, said means for determining comprising means for examining attributes associated with multiple copies of at least a portion of said particular file; means for coalescing the most recent version of all portions of said particular file in the proper order in order to create a current version of said particular file from the most recent version of all portions of said particular file in all of said plurality of archive storage sessions; means for writing a new archive session containing said current version; and means for creating an indication that a copy of at least a portion of said particular file has been superseded by said current version.
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Specification