Combined computer disaster recovery and migration tool for effective disaster recovery as well as the backup and migration of user- and system-specific information
First Claim
1. A method, comprising:
- determining a nature of changes made to respective components of a user state stored on a source computer;
classifying respective components into at least one of a plurality of backup classes based at least in part upon the determined nature of changes to respective components of the user state;
periodically storing the respective components of the user state on a backup computer according to predetermined schedules associated with the respective backup classes, the respective schedules based at least in part upon at least one of a time that has lapsed since a component was last stored and a percentage change of the component since the component was last stored;
monitoring the source computer to identify at least one of a system failure and a predetermined drop in capacity; and
if at least one of the system failure and the predetermined drop in capacity is identified, transferring at least a portion of the stored user state of the source computer to a target computer that is dissimilar in at least one of hardware and operating system relative to the source computer, transferring at least a portion of the stored user state comprising;
transferring a portion of the user state that will not at least one of hinder an operation of the target computer and cause instability in the target computer from the backup computer to the target computer, the transferred portion of the user state comprising at least one of an application and a user-specific setting, the target computer configured to execute the transferred portion of the user state; and
not transferring a portion of the user state that will at least one of hinder an operation of the target computer and cause instability in the target computer from the backup computer to the target computer,at least a portion of the method implemented at least in part via a processor.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Computer tools and methods novelly combine periodic backup and restore features with migration features to transfer the components of a failed system to a new system. As well as backing up and transferring critical data files during the disaster recovery operation, an aspect of the present invention also transfers, inter alia, applications, user states, hardware settings, software settings, user preferences and other user settings, menus, and directories. In another aspect of the present invention, a network of shared end-user computers periodically backs up each individual end-user computer to a central instrumentality, in a novel manner to reduce storage and time requirements. That is, redundancies for the end-user computer backup files are eliminated or greatly reduced by only making reference to but not storing components that are generic to the system, and further for each previously stored component, only storing differential or incremental information, unless predefined conditions are met.
94 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method, comprising:
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determining a nature of changes made to respective components of a user state stored on a source computer; classifying respective components into at least one of a plurality of backup classes based at least in part upon the determined nature of changes to respective components of the user state; periodically storing the respective components of the user state on a backup computer according to predetermined schedules associated with the respective backup classes, the respective schedules based at least in part upon at least one of a time that has lapsed since a component was last stored and a percentage change of the component since the component was last stored; monitoring the source computer to identify at least one of a system failure and a predetermined drop in capacity; and if at least one of the system failure and the predetermined drop in capacity is identified, transferring at least a portion of the stored user state of the source computer to a target computer that is dissimilar in at least one of hardware and operating system relative to the source computer, transferring at least a portion of the stored user state comprising; transferring a portion of the user state that will not at least one of hinder an operation of the target computer and cause instability in the target computer from the backup computer to the target computer, the transferred portion of the user state comprising at least one of an application and a user-specific setting, the target computer configured to execute the transferred portion of the user state; and not transferring a portion of the user state that will at least one of hinder an operation of the target computer and cause instability in the target computer from the backup computer to the target computer, at least a portion of the method implemented at least in part via a processor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A system, comprising:
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a backup component configured to; determine a nature of changes made to respective components of a user state stored on a source computer; classify respective components into at least one of a plurality of backup classes based at least in part upon the determined nature of changes to respective components of the user state; and periodically store the respective components of the user state on a backup computer according to predetermined schedules associated with the respective backup classes, the respective schedules based at least in part upon at least one of a time that has lapsed since a component was last stored and a percentage change of the component since the component was last stored; and a migration component configured to; monitor the source computer to identify at least one of a system failure and a predetermined drop in capacity; and if at least one of the system failure and the predetermined drop in capacity is identified, transfer at least a portion of the stored user state of the source computer to a target computer that is dissimilar in at least one of hardware and operating system relative to the source computer, transferring at least a portion of the stored user state comprising; transferring a portion of the user state that will not at least one of hinder an operation of the target computer and cause instability in the target computer from the backup computer to the target computer, the transferred portion of the user state comprising at least one of an application and a user-specific setting, the target computer configured to execute the transferred portion of the user state; and not transferring a portion of the user state that will at least one of hinder an operation of the target computer and cause instability in the target computer from the backup computer to the target computer, at least some of at least one of the backup component and the migration component implemented at least in part via a processor. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A computer readable medium comprising instructions that when executed by a processor on a computer perform method, comprising:
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determining a nature of changes made to respective components of a user state stored on a source computer; classifying respective components into at least one of a plurality of backup classes based at least in part upon the determined nature of changes to respective components of the user state; periodically storing the respective components of the user state on a backup computer according to predetermined schedules associated with the respective backup classes, the respective schedules based at least in part upon at least one of a time that has lapsed since a component was last stored and a percentage change of the component since the component was last stored; monitoring the source computer to identify at least one of a system failure and a predetermined drop in capacity; and if at least one of the system failure and the predetermined drop in capacity is identified, transferring at least a portion of the stored user state of the source computer to a target computer that is dissimilar in at least one of hardware and operating system relative to the source computer, transferring at least a portion of the stored user state comprising; transferring a portion of the user state that will not at least one of hinder an operation of the target computer and cause instability in the target computer from the backup computer to the target computer, the transferred portion of the user state comprising at least one of an application and a user-specific setting, the target computer configured to execute the transferred portion of the user state; and not transferring a portion of the user state that will at least one of hinder an operation of the target computer and cause instability in the target computer from the backup computer to the target computer. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification