Method of cloning the file system of a window web operating system by using a bitmap file

• US 6,418,449 B1
• Filed: 01/06/2000
• Issued: 07/09/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Inventec Corporation
• Original Assignee: Inventec Corporation
• Inventors: Zhang, Hai-Hong, Lin, Kuang-Shin, Chen, Tong-S
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu, Kim
• Assistant Examiner(s): ALAM, SHAHID AL
• Application Number:
  US09/478,087
• Time in Patent Office: 915 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/5, 707/10, 707/100, 707/104.1, 707/101, 707/102, 707/200, 707/201, 707/202, 707/203, 711/161, 711/162, 711/173, 709/203, 709/212, 709/219, 709/221, 717/11
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/10 File systems; File servers
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

A method of cloning the file system of a window web operating system by using a bitmap file includes the steps of (i) storing file data from a source partition in a bitmap file, (ii) compressing the data of the source partition into an image file and cloning the image file to an object disk, (iii) decompressing the compressed bitmap file of the source partition in an object partition in the object disk, enabling decompressed data to be restored to the object partition, and (iv) modifying the bitmap file subject to the size of the object partition and the physical parameters of the object disk.

Claims

1. A method of cloning a file system of a window web operating system by using a bitmap file, comprising the steps of (i) storing file data from a source partition in a bitmap file, (ii) compressing the data of the source partition into an image file and cloning the image file to an object disk, (iii) decompressing the compressed bitmap file of the source partition in an object partition in the object disk, enabling decompressed data to be restored to the object partition, and (iv) modifying the bitmap file subject to the size of the object partition and the physical parameters of the object disk,

wherein when storing said file data from said source partition in said bitmap file, a position of a master file table (MFT) is found from a boot sector of said source partition, and then a first 20 records in the MFT are searched, so as to find a physical address and size of the bitmap file from the records, and to further obtain an actual address and size of the bitmap file.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein all useful data in said source partition is divided into a plurality of data blocks, the data in each data block is compressed, and the compressed data is decompressed and stored in the image file.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein an initial address is stored in a file header structure, which is stored with physical parameters including a total number of sectors and partition information.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein when the object partition is less than or equal to the source partition, a bitmap file end sign is set in the original bitmap file at a position which represents an end of the object partition to end modification of the bitmap file.

5. A method of cloning a file system of a window web operating system by using a bitmap file, comprising the steps of (i) storing file data from a source partition in a bitmap file, (ii) compressing the data of the source partition into an image file and cloning the image file to an object disk, (iii) decompressing the compressed bitmap file of the source partition in an object partition in the object disk, enabling decompressed data to be restored to the object partition, and (iv) modifying the bitmap file subject to the size of the object partition and the physical parameters of the object disk,

wherein all useful data in said source partition is divided into a plurality of data blocks, the data in each data block is compressed, and the compressed data is decompressed and stored in the image file, and

wherein when making the image file, data in a first sector is read from the source partition, a parameter block containing BIOS parameters is initialized, the parameter block is then read into a boot sector of the source partition, file system data is read into said bitmap file, the bitmap file is read and stored in a temporary file in a buffer, a judgement is made as to whether the bitmap file reading action has been terminated, and a largest cluster number from the file system data is changed to a smallest sector number and a remainder of the data in the bitmap file is written into the buffer if the bitmap file has all been read out, followed by return to the step of reading sector data from the source partition.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein if the bitmap file reading action continues when making the image, one data block is read from the bitmap file subject to a record number, a corresponding cluster number is written to the image file subject to a data message in the data block, the record number of the data block is added, and a largest useful data cluster number is recorded, followed by return to the step of reading sector data from the source partition.

7. A method of cloning a file system of a window web operating system by using a bitmap file, comprising the steps of (i) storing file data from a source partition in a bitmap file, (ii) compressing the data of the source partition into an image file and cloning the image file to an object disk, (iii) decompressing the compressed bitmap file of the source partition in an object partition in the object disk, enabling decompressed data to be restored to the object partition, and (iv) modifying the bitmap file subject to the size of the object partition and the physical parameters of the object disk,

wherein an initial address is stored in a file header structure, which is stored with physical parameters including a total number of sectors and partition information, and

wherein when decompressing the image file, parameters of an image file header of the image file are read, a size of the source partition is compared with the object partition, the bitmap file and related parameters are modified subject to a comparison result, the modified data is written into the object partition, and a content of the data blocks of the source partition is cloned to the object partition of the object disk.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein when cloning the file system from the source partition to the object partition, a value of “

n”

is set subject to a number of data blocks in the image file, and whether the set value “

n”

surpasses zero or not is judged, so as to read data from a corresponding data block is read and a data type of the data is determined is the set value “

n”

surpasses zero, a BIOS parameter block of the object partition is modified and the modified result is restored if the data is boot data, or the data and the restored parameter block is written into a data sector of the object partition if the data is file system data or regular data, followed by return to the step of reading the data of the image file header structure and repeating the procedure until the content of all data blocks of the image file has been completely processed, at which time n<

0.

9. A method of cloning a file system of a window web operating system by using a bitmap file, comprising the steps of (i) storing file data from a source partition in a bitmap file, (ii) compressing the data of the source partition into an image file and cloning the image file to an object disk, (iii) decompressing the compressed bitmap file of the source partition in an object partition in the object disk, enabling decompressed data to be restored to the object partition, and (iv) modifying the bitmap file subject to the size of the object partition and the physical parameters of the object disk,

wherein when the object partition is greater than the object partition and the original bitmap file represents a position of an end of the object partition, all redundant data is cleared before the end of the object partition, and a bitmap file end sign is set at a position of the end of the object partition to end modification of the bitmap file.

10. A method of cloning a file system of a window web operating system by using a bitmap file, comprising the steps of (i) storing file data from a source partition in a bitmap file, (ii) compressing the data of the source partition into an image file and cloning the image file to an object disk, (iii) decompressing the compressed bitmap file of the source partition in an object partition in the object disk, enabling decompressed data to be restored to the object partition, and (iv) modifying the bitmap file subject to the size of the object partition and the physical parameters of the object disk,

wherein when the object partition is greater than the source partition but the original bitmap file does not represent a position of the end of the object partition, a new position is found, a content of the original object partition is cloned, and a bitmap file end sign is set at a position of the end of the object partition to end modification of the bitmap file.