Systems and methods for electronic data storage management

• US 6,366,988 B1
• Filed: 07/17/1998
• Issued: 04/02/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Storactive, Inc. (Wooxo SAS)
• Original Assignee: Storactive, Inc. (Wooxo SAS)
• Inventors: Skiba, Mark, Ryzhkin, Mikhail
• Primary Examiner(s): Thai, Tuan V.
• Application Number:
  US09/118,218
• Time in Patent Office: 1,355 Days
• Field of Search: 707/204, 707/203, 711/165, 711/170, 711/203, 711/100, 711/200
• US Class Current: 711/165
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1435 using file system or storage system metadata
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2087 with a common controller
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1734 Details of monitoring file system events, e.g. by the use of hooks, filter drivers, logs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0608 Saving storage space on storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/061 Improving I/O performance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0647 Migration mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99954 Version management

Abstract

Systems and methods for improved electronic data storage management that allow the file system to physically adapt and optimize to a variety of add-on hardware components (such as hard disks, removable drives, CD ROM drives, etc.) while virtually maintaining a stable system configuration from an application software point of view. The Redirector presents a virtual view of the file system by providing a virtual view of logical volumes. Through the use of a Redirector component, all application program file API'"'"'s to the operating system are filtered; if the file, or directory is redirected, then the call is sent in a modified form to the operating system to its redirected physical location. The physical movement of files is accomplished through the use of a Migrator component. The Migrator makes a copy of the file, verifies the correctness of the copy, updates the redirector table, and then removes the physical file from its original location.

Claims

1. A programmed computer system for managing electronic data storage comprising:

means for physically moving electronic data from a source location recognized by a computer operating system and by one or more application software programs to a new destination storage location on the same or other electronic data storage device;

means for communicating the new destination storage location of the electronic data to the computer operating system;

means for translating the new destination storage location of the electronic data to one or more application software programs so that said application software programs do not detect any change in the location of the electronic data;

means for updating said application software programs to request the operating system to access said electronic data as if said electronic data is located at the source storage location;

means for redirecting the operating system from the source electronic data storage location to the new destination storage location in order to provide the operating system with access to the electronic data at the new destination storage location.

2. The programmed computer system of claim 1 wherein said communicating means, said translating means and said redirecting means includes:

a mirrored directory tree, with one or more entries, wherein each entry identifies the name of a file of said electronic data that has been physically moved to a new destination storage location as it was named when the file was originally stored on a primary storage device, the source file storage location, a new file handle, and a new destination storage location;

a zero length file stored at the source file storage location;

computer software to program the computer to interpret for one or more application programs and for the computer operating system each of the entries in said mirrored directory tree.

3. The programmed computer system of claim 1 wherein the moving means further comprises:

means for determining which of a plurality of electronic data storage devices contains the most amount of free space;

means for physically transferring electronic data from a source storage location recognized by a computer operation system and by one or more application software programs to a new destination storage location on the electronic data storage device which has been identified as being the storage device with the most available free space.

4. The programmed computer system of claim 1 wherein said source data storage location is on a read-only electronic data storage device and wherein said new destination storage location is on an electronic data storage device capable of executing read-write instructions.

5. The programmed computer system of claim 1 wherein said physically moved electronic data comprises the data content of an entire file.

6. The programmed computer system of claim 1 wherein said physically moved electronic data comprises the data content of an entire directory.

7. The programmed computer system of claim 1 wherein said physically moved electronic data comprises the data content of an entire physical storage volume of data.

8. A programmed computer system for replacing a plurality of identical copies of a particular set of electronic data with a single complete copy of said data, comprising:

means for identifying a plurality of physical storage locations of identical copies of a particular set of electronic data;

means for storing a zero length file at all but one of the plurality of physical storage locations of the identical copies of a particular set of electronic data;

means for redirecting a computer operating system from the location of a zero length file representing an eliminated duplicate identical copy of said particular set of electronic data to the location of the remaining copy of said particular set of electronic data;

means for the operating system to access the particular set of electronic data physically stored at the location of the remaining copy of the particular set of electronic data as if the data was stored at the location of one of the zero length files representing one or more of the eliminated duplicate identical copies.

9. A method for managing electronic data storage comprising the steps:

physically moving one or more bytes of electronic data from a source location recognized by a computer operating system and by one or more application software programs to a new destination storage location on the same or other electronic data storage device;

communicating the new destination storage location of the electronic data to the computer operating system;

translating the new destination storage location of the electronic data to one or more application software programs so that said application software programs do not detect any change in the location of the electronic data;

preparing requests by application software programs to the operating system to access said electronic data as if said electronic data is located at the source storage location;

redirecting the operating system from the source electronic data storage location to the new destination storage location in order to provide the operating system with access to the electronic data at the new destination storage location.

10. A method for replacing a plurality of identical copies of a particular set of electronic data with a single complete copy of said data, comprising the steps:

identifying a plurality of physical storage locations of identical copies of a particular set of electronic data;

storing a zero length file at all but one of the plurality of physical storage locations of the identical copies of a particular set of electronic data;

redirecting a computer operating system from the location of a zero length file representing an eliminated duplicate identical copy of said particular set of electronic data to the location of the remaining copy of said particular set of electronic data;

accessing the particular set of electronic data physically stored at the location of the remaining copy of the particular set of electronic data by the operating system as if the data was stored at the location of one of the zero length files representing one or more of the eliminated duplicate identical copies.