Data recovery and overwrite independent of operating system

• US 8,307,175 B2
• Filed: 06/26/2009
• Issued: 11/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Khosravi, Hormuzd M., Mirashrafi, Mojtaba Mojy, Glendinning, Duncan, Prakash, Gyan
• Primary Examiner(s): Elmore, Stephen
• Assistant Examiner(s): GIARDINO JR, MARK A
• Application Number:
  US12/492,964
• Publication Number:
  US 20100332744A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,229 Days
• Field of Search: 711/161, 711/162, 711/163, 711/112, 710/22
• US Class Current: 711/161
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database

Abstract

Methods and systems to access data in a computer system independent of an operating environment of the computer system, including to recover data to a remote system, to overwrite data, and to copy data to a hidden partition. A management system may directly access a storage device of the computer system and communicate with the remote system over a data channel that is secure from an operating environment of the computer system. The management system may access the storage device on a block basis, using a device driver associated with a storage device controller, and may include a virtualization engine to access the storage device. The remote system may include logic to request meta-data, to identify disk blocks corresponding to files of interest from the meta-data, and to construct the files of interest from the disk blocks.

Claims

1. A computer program product including a non-transitory computer readable medium having computer program logic stored therein, the computer program logic including:

management system logic to cause a first processor to selectively access disk blocks within a storage device independent of and secure from an operating environment of a second processor that is configured to access the storage device, wherein the management system logic includes one or more of,

data recover logic to cause the first processor to retrieve selected disk blocks from the storage device and send selected disk blocks from the storage device to a remote system over a data channel that is inaccessible to the operating environment,

data copy logic to cause the first processor to copy selected disk blocks of the storage device to a hidden partition of the storage device, and

data overwrite logic to cause the first processor to overwrite selected disk blocks in the storage device,

wherein the computer program logic further includes remote system logic, and;

the management system logic includes logic to cause the first processor to retrieve and send meta-data disk blocks from the storage device to the remote system over the data channel in response to a command from the remote system over the data channel;

the remote system logic includes logic to cause a remote system processor to identify, from the meta-data disk blocks, disk blocks that correspond to one or more files of interest;

the management system logic further includes logic to cause the first processor to retrieve and send the identified disk blocks from the storage device to the remote system over the data channel; and

the remote system logic further includes;

logic to cause the remote system processor to reconstruct the one or more files of interest from the disk blocks; and

file system tools logic, including remote disk mount logic and address virtualization logic, to cause the remote system processor to invoke the first processor to mount and access at least a portion of the storage device from within an operating kernel of the remote system.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the management system logic further includes:

block storage service (BSS) driver logic to cause the first processor to request the disk blocks in response to one or more of the data recover logic, the data copy logic, and the data overwrite logic;

storage device driver logic, configured in accordance with a controller associated with the storage device, to cause the first processor to communicate requests from the BSS driver logic to the controller.

3. A system, comprising:

a processor to host an operating environment and to access a storage device from within the operating environment; and

a micro-controller to selectively access disk blocks within the storage device independent of and secure from the operating environment, including one or more of,

to recover selected disk blocks from the storage device to a remote system over a data channel that is inaccessible to the operating environment,

to copy selected disk blocks of the storage device to a hidden partition of the storage device, and

to overwrite selected disk blocks in the storage device,

wherein;

the micro-controller is configured to retrieve and send meta-data disk blocks from the storage device to the remote system over the data channel in response to a command from the remote system over the data channel;

the remote system is configured to identify, from the meta-data disk blocks, disk blocks that correspond to one or more files of interest;

the micro-controller is further configured to retrieve and send the identified disk blocks from the storage device to the remote system over the data channel; and

the remote system is further configured to reconstruct the one or more files of interest from the disk blocks, and

wherein the remote system is further configured to invoke the micro-controller to mount and access a portion of the storage device from within an operating kernel of the remote system.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the micro-controller includes:

a management engine including a block storage service (BSS) driver to generate disk block access requests and a data access module to invoke the BSS driver to perform one or more of the recover, the copy, and the overwrite; and

a virtualization engine including a storage device driver to communicate with a controller associated with the storage device responsive to the management engine.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein:

the micro-controller is configured to copy an image of computer program logic from firmware that is inaccessible to the processor to a portion of system memory associated with the processor;

the micro-controller is configured to execute the computer program logic from the portion of memory; and

the portion of system memory is access protected with respect to the operating environment.

6. The system of claim 3, wherein the processor and the micro-controller are embedded within a set of one or more integrated circuit chips mounted on a circuit board.

7. The system of claim 3, wherein the micro-controller is implemented as a coprocessor to the processor.

8. The system of claim 3, wherein the micro-controller is integral to the processor.

9. The system of claim 3, wherein the micro-controller is configured to access disk blocks within the storage device when other devices of the system are in a low power state and when the operating environment is inactive.

10. A method, comprising:

selectively accessing disk blocks within a storage device independent of and secure from an operating environment of a processor that is configured to access the storage device, wherein the selectively accessing includes one or more of,

recovering selected disk blocks from the storage device to a remote system over a data channel that is inaccessible to the operating environment,

copying selected disk blocks of the storage device to a hidden partition of the storage device, and

overwriting disk blocks in the storage device, wherein the selectively accessing includes;

retrieving and sending meta-data disk blocks from the storage device to the remote system over the data channel in response to a command from the remote system over the data channel;

receiving the meta-data disk blocks at the remote system and identifying, from the meta-data disk blocks, disk blocks that correspond to one or more files of interest;

retrieving and sending the identified disk blocks from the storage device to the remote system over the data channel; and

reconstructing the one or more files of interest from the disk blocks at the remote system; and

remotely initiating a partial mount and access of the storage device.